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IXITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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COLUMBIA 
REDEEMED 

FROM SLAVERY 




WILLIAM BURT HARLOW 



Columbia Redeemed 

* 

* FROM SLAVERY 

THE STORY OF AMERICA'S CIVIL WAR 




WILLIAM BURT HARLOW 




BUFFALO 

CHARLES WELLS MOULTON 
1894 



K 



Copyright, 1894, 
By William Burt Harlow.. 



Printed by C. W. Moulton, Buffalo, N. Y. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. PAGE 

The Challenge 7 

The Meeting of the U. S. Congress 9 

The Meeting of the Confederate Congress 11 

The Inauguration of Lincoln 13 

The Capture of Fort Sumter 15 

BOOK II. 

The Uprising of the North 19 

Harper's Ferry . 24 

The Burning of Gosport Navy- Yard 24 

Northern Rally 25 

Butler's Advance to Washington 27 

The Rising of the West 29 

BOOK III. 

Death of Ellsworth 32 

Birth of West Virginia 33 

Skirmish at Bethel Church 33 

The Cruise of the St. Nicholas 34 

Preparations for War 35 

Battle of Bull Run 38 

BOOK IV. 

Southern Triumphs 41 

Siege of Fort Donelson 43 

Capture of Nashville and New Madrid 45 

Fort Pillow 47 

The Battle of Shiloh 49 

BOOK V. 

The Siege of New Orleans 53 

The Monitor and the Merrimac 59 



iv CONTENTS. 

BOOK VI. PAGE 

Battle of Williamsburg 63 

The Army of the Potomac Before Richmond 65 

Battle of Malvern Hills 68 

BOOK VII. 

Battle of Antietam 71 

Battle of Chancellorsville 74 

Guerrilla Warfare — Siege of Corinth 77 

BOOK VIII. 

The Emancipation Proclamation 81 

The Corsairs 82 

Siege of Vicksburg . . . 85 

BOOK IX. 

Battle of Gettysburg 91 

The Valley of the Shadow of Death 100 

BOOK X. 

The Guerrillas 102 

Rosecrans. Thomas. Burnside 103 

Battle of Lookout Mountain 104 

The Storming of the Forts by the Sea 105 

Battle of Wilderness 108 

Siege of Petersburg no 

BOOK XI. 

Sherman's March to the Sea 115 

Sherman's Atlantic Campaign 118 

Fall of Fort Fisher 121 

The Capture of Mobile Bay 121 

The Election of 'Sixty-Four 123 

BOOK XII. 

Fall of Richmond 129 

Flight of Davis 133 

Death of Lincoln 134 

Peace • 136 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED FROM SLAVERY 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Secession's flag floats over Charleston's streets, 

A cheer from twenty thousand rebels greets 

That ensign white where the palmetto's stem 

Is circled by Rebellion's diadem; 

A hissing snake, with leer provoking hell 

To laugh in glee when peace and union fell. 

The Rebels might have known that Satan's form 

Was doomed to death while one true heart beat warm. 

The " Marseillaise " now sounds with stirring notes, 

The " Miserere " sweetly, sadly floats 

Upon the southern air in mute lament 

For patriot fires here in ashes spent. 

****** 

Around Fort Sumter's walls the waters lay, 

The moon shone o'er that broad and sheltered bay, 

Where Anderson first hero of our cause, 

Once dared to disobey the southern laws; 

From Moultrie's Fortress gathering in his band 

That all beneath the stars and stripes might stand 

Within the walls of Sumter. Oft his call 

For aid to Floyd at Washington would fall 

On deafened ears; for Floyd upheld the strife; 

Then in our very Capitol were rife 

Among the southern faction still in power 

Long-cherished schemes that ripened hour by hour. 

The demagogue declaims in sun and rain: 
" No baboon Abe shall break secession's chain, 
What! he a fifth-rate lawyer, broken hack 
Shall he as president our rights attack ? 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 

Fanatic abolitionist shall he 

Stir up our slaves, and give them liberty ? " 

Thus frets the insurrection through the south 

And speeds the startling news from mouth to mouth, 

That hostile guns attack the " Western Star " 

While bringing aid to Charleston from afar 

For those who stand on guard with Anderson. 

The harsh alarm of sullen war's first gun 

Reechoes through the north and wakes the zeal 

Of patriots to act, when true hearts feel 

And bring relief to that blockaded post 

Where three score men defy the southern host. 



THE MEETING OF THE U. S. CONGRESS. 

BENEATH the historic dome at Washington 
The leaders of the nation, one by one 
Come from the south by black Rebellion tossed 
From northern lands now mourning at the cost 
Of liberty and union for their sons: 
From westward come they where that river runs 
Through prairies rich with fields of corn and wheat 
Where summer winds pass o'er with printless feet 
And sighing vainly, fan the heated brow 
Of man who wars against his brother now. 
Buchanan, leader mild, with age grown weak 
Must now amid contending factions speak: 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



" Secession, like a serpent, long has crept; 

Now dragon grown its strengthened folds have swept 

Around the states and wound them in its coils, 

I fear it and am wearied with my toils. 

Can we not pacify this threatening beast ? 

On slavery alone it seeks to feast; 

The north may still its liberties maintain 

By war it loses: it hath naught to gain. ,, 

Here Toombs of Carolina answer makes, 

The passions of the north and south he wakes. 

" Those meddling Abolitionists have sown 

The dragon's teeth and armed men have grown. 

Our rights as southern states we now defend 

This union, mark me, draweth to its end; 

From Washington down to the River Grand 

Now thirsty bayonets gleam where soldiers stand: 

Our wealth, you know it well, rests in our slaves 

For slavery we'll fight, e'en to our graves: 

We care not for your black republicans 

If we are tyrants you are greater ones! " 

Then Baker, come from far off Oregon 

Arising fires with patriot zeal anon: 

M Preserve our union! shall this nation raised 

By sacrifice and struggles, ever praised 

By all who've suffered the oppressor's wrong, 

Shall this republic now so great and strong, 

Be broken into petty powers where strife 

And jealousies shall sap our union's life ? 

No longer will the nations of the earth 

Look to the land where Freedom had its birth. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



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Our stars and stripes have grandly sailed the sea 
And foreign lands have praised our unity. 
And shall we tamely see our colors furled 
A laughing stock to all the gaping world ? 
Shall our proud ships be seen in ports afar 
Beneath * palmetto flag - and that 1 lone star ' ? " 
The Unionists* applause rings loud and long: 
Then thoughtful Seward rises 'midst the throng 
To serve the union but preserve the peace. 
And Johnson speaks brave words for our release 
From threatened tyranny of southern bands. 
4i Ye men of northern and of western lands 
Come, rally round our country's altar now 
And to our constitution fealty vow." 



THE MEETING OF THE CONFEDERATE 
CONGRESS. 

THE southern traitors flee from Washington, 
Then Carolina, Georgia, both at one 
With Alabama 'mid her cotton fields 
And Mississippi with her precious yields 
Of rice and fruits and towering sugar-cane 
With Texas and with Florida where reign 
Fair summer days and flowers through all the year 
And that low land that guards her shores in fear 
Louisiana with her devious streams, 
These states, alas, beset by evil dreams 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Of victory o'er the north and union's power 

Send embassies that now from hour to hour 

Montgomery gathers in her capitol. 

Here Davis rises leader of them all. 

Erect and tall he stands, one eye is blind, 

His face is thin, with features well defined; 

Intelligence and strength proclaim his might 

Audacious, cold, and calm he takes delight 

In deeds of state craft where he knows full well 

That cruelty and treachery will tell. 

Kentucky bore him but on history's page 

The record stands that, from his early age, 

The state of Mississippi reared the boy, 

Who faithless seeks his nation to destroy. 

His country had in councils honored him 

And listened to his words ere faith grew dim. 

Here one beside him stands so small and frail, 

That e'en ere manhood's prime he seems to fail. 

But yet that voice so weak oft thrills the throng 

For with a soulful eloquence 'tis strong. 

In Milledgeville but four short months ago 

This leader had proclaimed that man a foe 

Who for ambition's sake or southern right 

Would break the " Constitution " and invite 

Our foes without to join our foes within 

And scatter all our sires had fought to win. 

From Georgia now he comes to fan the flame 

And aid secession by his words and name. 

First Davis speaks: " The North must bear the blow 

If they will set the southern rights so low; 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 

Shall we debase ourselves by menial toil 

Yield up our slaves and tamely till the soil ? 

Is this our boasted southern chivalry 

To bear oppression thus and dream we're free ? 

The North would ruin us and set at naught 

The rights for which our fathers too have fought; 

I swear it, and may Heaven grant the appeal 

That they shall breathe our powder, feel our steel! " 

He ceases and the concourse shouts assent 

And one by one the minds of all are bent, 

As Stephens, Gobb and Benjamin declaim, 

And Toombs and Mallory the North defame. 



THE INAUGURATION OF LINCOLN. 

FAR in the west where flows the Sangamon 
Through prairies broad that to the summer sun 
Spread forth their carpet green, here one was found 
Whose early years by poverty were bound; 
Whose toils had to the heights uplifted him: 
Tall, gaunt, and plain he was, uncouth of limb, 
Our nation knew him in her hour of need: 
In his rough face the patriot she could read. 
She called him: with a chosen few he came 
Through cities northward where the threatening flame 
Of revolution blazed but harmed him not; 
To die ere duty done was not the lot 
Which God ordained for him, and on he sped 
By traitors hissed, by cheering patriots led. 



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****** 

Behold a solemn pageant passing on 
Through hosts that throng the streets of Washingt 
An aid or marshall from each loyal state 
Has come upon the nation's chief to wait: 
The stars and stripes, fair emblem of our might 
Advance before, aglow with heaven's light. 
Two presidents, one bowed by years and fear 
One strong to meet the conflict drawing near, 
And then, in stately process chiefs of yore, 
Then judges, clergy and from many a shore 
The ministers of nations o'er the seas; 
Then congress, wise in councils follows these, 
Here governors from numerous states proceed, 
And beauteous forms of soldier chieftains lead 
A time worn band that draws from every eye 
While throngs behold them passing slowly by 
A tear for our tried veterans of the past 
Who patriots once prove patriots to the last. 
Approaching now the stately eminence 
Through all the avenues the throng grows dense. 
They enter now beneath the vast white dome; 
Two presidents within the nation's home; 
And one, 'tis said, sighed with relief that he 
From years of jarring discord now was free 
And one with inward calm gave not a sign 
Upon that face now seamed with many a line. 
Upraised above the people issuing forth 
He speaks assurance to the expectant North 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Nor sanctions separation of the states 

And shows that on rebellion ruin waits. 

" With malice none, with charity for all, 

As God gives light so let us stand or fall! M 

Thus speaks the chief and cheer on cheer rings out; 

E'en faint hearts for the moment cease to doubt. 

The pompous pageant slowly melts away, 

The twilight falls, but night is turned to day, 

For countless lights gleam in the spacious hall, 

And music, with its soft alluring call, 

Now summons to the dance the nation's flower. 

'Tis well that burdened souls for one brief hour 

Can shut War's flame-eyed demon from their sight 

Whose wings of death will wrap the land in night. 

And he is here, the thoughtful one who bears 

The nation's burden; he alone now wears 

A look of sadness on this festal night; 

He sees the demon and he reads aright 

The future with its shadowings of woe. 

Yet comes he here and it is better so. 

One glimpse of pleasure, ere long wearying pain, 

Is sweet to memory though ne'er seen again. 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT SUMTER. 



THREE weary months had Major Anderson 
Seen round the harbor rising, one by one 
New batteries stored with rebel shot and shell. 
With strong but saddened heart he knows full well 




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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



That rations for his little garrison 

Must surely fail; that naught can then be done; 

For Charleston's stores no aid to him supply, 

Help soon must come, else he must yield or die. 

And still by paltering nation he is left 

'Mong enemies, of all support bereft, 

Till Lincoln roused by southerners' command 

To free the harbor and dismiss the band 

Who long had held Fort Sumter from her foes, 

In spite of opposition stronger grows 

Demanding that relief at once be sent 

Ere Anderson's declining power be spent. 

'Tis April twelve, oh memorable day! 

At early morning's hour when o'er the bay 

Resounding dull and deep that cannon's boom 

Proclaims secession's birth and freedom's doom. 

Then bursts a shell o'er Sumter's hoary walls, 

Within them scattering ruin as it falls. 

The slumberers in Charleston's homes awake, 

They throng the streets, quick words the stillness 

The Floating Battery's guns flash deadly fire; 

Above the bay the war cloud rises higher 

Then Moultrie and Fort Dalgren shower the shell 

But still old Sumter bears the onset well; 

And still above her battlements there wave 

The stars and stripes now powerless to save. 

At last like hunted lion brought to bay 

Her angry roar is heard from far away. 

Fort Moultrie feels the shock, her voice is stilled: 

And now from out the east with grey smoke filled 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



The promised transports with supplies appear; 
Above their masts our welcome flag they rear 
And ours who long had waited, hoped and prayed 
With gladness hail that signal, sure of aid. 
Alas! too late, the cry of "Fire! " rings out. 
Our fated fort with smoke is wreathed about; 
The harbor bar is closed with shifting sands 
And heaps of stones reared there by rebel hands. 
A driving storm from frowning skies is sent 
The wrath of Heaven with man's weak fury blent. 
The ships are scattered, but the fire allayed, 
Against their foes our men are still arrayed. 
The night comes on; the first day's fight is past, 
And o'er the land a widespread gloom is cast. 
Sad, anxious hearts seek sleep that brings no rest 
Or ceaseless pray to Him who doeth best 
That this republic raised 'mid tears and strife 
May never thus in shame yield up her life. 
The morning dawns: again the fray breaks forth 
Awaked by shots that fly from south and north. 
Within our fort men's garments and their beds 
In ammunition's aid are rent to shreds. 
Ours eat a scanty meal for nothing more 
Has Famine saved from their exhausted store. 
The fire in circling eddies o'er them breaks 
And darker hues the rising smoke wreath takes, 
The hostile shots still strike the shattered walls; 
Though facing death no man for mercy calls. 
A boat approaches with a flag of truce; 
" Within destruction's grasp where were the use 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



To hold the fort?" our enemies appeal; 

" To Beauregard your peace with honor seal; " 

And Anderson, brave leader of brave band 

Upon his own conditions still may stand. 

'Tis southern chivalry thus to admire 

A fallen foe, and grant his last desire. 

So Anderson and his tried garrison 

O'er smouldering ruins where brave deeds were done 

Unfurl their tattered flag the last time here 

Saluting it with guns and ringing cheer, 

Then bear that flag aboard the Isabel. 

What man could do is done, and it is well. 

From Charleston's roofs and towers hosts see that sight, 

In churches praise they God that all is right. 

The South victorious hold their jubilee 

In that first victory they seem to see 

Their power to grind the slave and rule the North 

To all the nations' ears proclaimed henceforth. 



BOOK II. 



THE UPRISING OF THE NORTH. 

AH, foolish reckoning with untried foes! 
At din of arms the North forsakes repose, 
Forgets her dreams and speaks with warlike tongue 
Of drum and fife where peace so long had sung. 
New England's villages and towns are stirred: 
" Death to the traitor; M "Save our flag! " is heard; 
That voice the wilds of Pennsylvania fills 
And New York to her wood-clad summits thrills; 
O'er Michigan, Ohio and afar 
Through California sound the notes of war; 
In trackless forests through the mountains old 
The wanderer wakens from his dreams of gold; 
Through dreary miles, o'er desert-prairies wide 
He hastens eastward to Columbia's side 
And to his nation in her sore distress 
He brings a willing hand and heart to bless. 
Half spent is April of that stirring year 
When Lincoln calls for troops from far and near; 
He summons five and seventy thousand forth 
To quell the rebel force and guard the north. 
And from the states come manifold replies! 
Some hostile seem and some would gladly rise 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



To save the nation and the miscreants crush 

Ere through the northland the invaders rush; 

Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee 

Declare that all the southern states are free 

To rule their slaves, to make their laws and wield 

Whatever power they choose in town or field; 

Then Arkansaw and Missouri broad 

Pronounce the northern cause accursed of God 

But Maryland and Delaware hard pressed 

In doubt which course to choose know little rest 

And e'en throughout the north are murmurs heard. 

Some scorn the appeal with many a bitter word. 

Then Lincoln suffers blame from many more 

Weak cowards they whose names are covered o'er, 

Yet stands he firm like rock that billows beat 

And sees the slave appealing at his feet. 

What greeting from Montgomery cometh far 

To Washington, where none but patriots are ? 

"Davis answers, rough and curt, 

With mortar, Paixham and petard 
Sumter is ours, and nobody hurt, 

We tender old Abe our Beauregard'' 
Those southern hoards exulting triumph now, 
The North they feel must soon in homage bow. 
And for the men whom Lincoln has called forth; 
The South, derisive, orders for the North 
Just five and seventy thousand coffins made 
To hold the fools whose schemes 'gainst them are laid. 
Now speaks the West with native pleasantry: 
We bid the East await our deeds and see 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



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How single-handed we can crush the life 

That animates this petty rebel strife. 

Too well the prophets of the south and north 

Foresee that festering wounds must soon break forth; 

Each faction feels itself oppressed by wrong 

Which hostile brothers have inflicted long, 

Each to the same just God appeals in prayer 

And scarce believes the other, arms can bear 

Against the sons of selfsame sires who fought 

And with their blood this loved republic bought. 

"God and his justice are with us! " declare 

The loyal souls who soon for death prepare. 

"The Union and our nation, Heaven protect/' 

"Oh Father of all good, our cause elect! " 

The southern planter prays, " for we contend 

For separation, let this false peace end. 

Unhampered rights our injured states demand 

And slavery divine throughout our land." 

Upon that inauspicious Sabbath day 

When Anderson from Sumter sails away 

What hear the people in the temple's walls ? 

"Prepare for war, the nation totters, falls! 

'Come, all ye mighty men of war draw near 

And beat your ploughshares into swords nor fear 

To change your pruning hooks of peace to spears;' " 

This to the north, but what to southern ears ? 

" The northern army far from you I'll move 

And desolation o'er it from above 

I'll pour; fear not the issue, long tried land, 

For God is powerful with his right hand! " 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



The northland thrills with songs of liberty, 

On every height the patriot can see 

The emblem which must cost him tears and sighs 

And battle-fields where many a hero dies. 

Brave women, to their country's colors true 

In mantles of the stripes and starry blue, 

Bid loved ones come like men at Lincoln's call, 

Smile when they go, though blinding tears must fall. 

But through the south the unionist at strife 

Must raise the rebel flag or flee for life. 

Ohio's cities troop to bugle call 

And through broad thoroughfares on tower and wall 

Flags wave, tumultuous cheers resound to speed 

The heroes rallying in the hour of need. 

Old Philadelphia wakes her arms to wield 

And vast New York seems like a martial field; 

At Union Square there gather patriot bands 

Where sculptured Washington in brazen hands 

Holds high above the host assembled there 

Fort Sumter's flag once furled in sad despair. 

And voices of the murmuring multitude, 

And words of orator with fire imbued, 

The bugle's music rising on the air, 

The loved " Star-spangled Banner " thrilling there, 

These mingled sounds melodious wing their flight 

To God who girds men for the holy fight, 

And Heaven looks down on four long years of strife 

Ere righteous peace again can wake to life. 

Virginia, the Old Dominion strong 

Of presidents and patriots so long 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 

The mother, yields while at our very gate: 
Then chants the South this song with joy elate; 
" In the new-born arch of glory 

Lo, she burns, the central star! 
Never shame shall blight its grandeur; 

Never cloud its radiance mar 
Old Virginia, Old Virginia! 

Listen, southrons, to the strain. 
Old Virginia, Old Virginia 

Shout the rallying cry again! " 
From rebel Charleston rise victorious cheers, 
A hoary-headed patriarch* appears 
The same who first at Sumter fired a gun, 
Of stubborn traitors to his country none 
More arrogant or bitter could be found, 
His hand again the rebel gun must sound 
In praise of old Virginia won at last. 
Ah, little dreams he now how thick and fast 
Come southern woes with four dark years of strife 
Or, how by his own hand will end his life, 
The southern legions cautiously advance 
On Washington is bent a longing glance, 
And, brazen-faced their words are only these: 
" Let us alone, good Yankees, if you please! " 
Let them alone, to devastate the lands 
To force the weak to their marauding bands 
To creep like serpent with an unseen trail 
Then rising, torture till our strength shall fail! 



*Edmund Ruffin. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



HARPER'S FERRY. 



ULL fifty miles from Washington's white dome, 



1 The Shenandoah's waters southward come 
To meet Potomac with its hillsides blue, 
And here in strength a northern fortress grew; 
Virginians along the river side 
Besiege the fort that all attacks defied; 
They come by night, they meet the sentry guards, 
But now a flash and now a roar retards 
The advancing rebels; here to their dismay 
Comes word that one in power sought no delay 
On their approach, but fired the arsenal 
And only blackened walls are left to tell 
How vanished all the stores they longed to gain, 
Nor prisoners, nor trophies here remain. 



THE BURNING OF GOSPORT NAVY-YARD. 



O southward where Virginia guards her bay 



1 Old Gosport navy-yard protected lay; 
Now on the placid waters idle rest 
Our ships of war, the largest and the best, 
The mail-clad Merrimac, the Delaware, 
The graceful Cumberland and Plymouth fair, 
And old United States, that 'gainst the foe 
Decatur led victorious long ago, 





COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



25 



And many another, Norfolk city's dread 

Since her proud state had in secession led. 

Here Commodore McCauley's union crews 

Surrounded by the Rebels, fear to lose 

This wealth of armament, so, fatal deed, 

They scuttle all the ships at hour agreed. 

Alas! here, as at Sumter, aid too late 

Comes from the north within the harbor gate! 

These noble vessels slowly sink from sight 

Or on their decks blaze flames whose lurid light 

Illumes the walls of Norfolk far and wide, 

The blazing docks dye red the gleaming tide. 

The Unionists a third time put to flight 

The glorying South gains courage for the fight: 

With Norfolk and the Ferry in their hands 

Beleaguered Washington between them stands. 

The trembling North amazed beholds her foe 

Advancing swiftly; ever stronger grow. 

The South proclaims that soon their flag shall fly 

Where ours above the capitol waves high. 



HEN Lincoln's summons reach the sturdy north 



V Y Old Boston leads her valiant squadrons forth. 
From Marblehead in seventeen seventy-five 
First came the troops with British foes to strive, 



NORTHERN RALLY. 




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And hence again comes first the little band, 

Those patriots on Boston Common stand: 

From Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Quincy come 

The loyal boys in blue, at sound of drum; 

They've left the loom, the bench, their toils at sea: 

Around the " Cradle of our Liberty " 

They gather with their Governor Andrew near, 

And Butler's name is hailed with cheer on cheer; 

They've left the homes where wives and children weep, 

In southern fields how many men must sleep, 

Within the clasp of that last rest to hold 

Some pictured form in faithful fingers cold! 

And Sprague, Rhode Island's governor, leads men on 

From his proud little state to Washington; 

These under General Burnside march to war; 

But loyal Pennsylvania comes not far; 

Her sturdy regiments the first appear 

Ere to Columbia's District foes draw near. 

Poor Maryland is seething now with strife, 

With mobs the streets of Baltimore are rife. 

When Massachusetts' troops one stirring day 

Hence southward strive to urge their hampered way 

The populace with bricks and stones attack 

In vain attempt to drive our forces back. 

All patience lost the soldiers wheel about 

And soon the hooting rabble put to rout. 

The blood of reckless victims flowing here 

Inspires the lawless miscreants with fear. 

The weary and the wounded boys in blue 

March on till Washington appears in view. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



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They enter now the Capitol's high dome 

And to the sacred senate hall they come. 

"Through Baltimore no union troops shall pass," 

To Governor and Mayor say the mass 

Of citizens who swear that Maryland 

Shall suffer not another northern band 

To pass her borders: Bridge on bridge they burn; 

The hastening regiments must backward turn. 

But what says Lincoln to their embassy ? 

" From Carolina, bands to slaughter me 

And seize this Capitol are on the way, 

I can and shall have northern troops to-day! " 

Our Robert Lee, Virginia's nobleman — 

'Tis strange that one so loved and cherished can 

Desert the ship of state when most in need 

Now through surrounding influence or greed 

Resigns his charge with us and joins our foes 

The south, henceforth no other leader knows. 



BUTLER'S ADVANCE TO WASHINGTON. 
l O sound of martial music thousands pass, 



1 And many a woman's heart goes with that mass; 
One Spartan mother sees five sons depart. 
" It seemed," she said " a ball had pierced my heart 
When for our country's God I bade them go; 
Though twice five sons, no duty should they know, 
To mother, father, nation at this hour 
But to redeem our land from traitors' power." 




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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Ben Butler's eastern troops with drum and flute, 
Wake Philadelphia's heart to glad salute; 
But through rebellious Baltimore 'twere vain, 
To force a passage or our cause maintain. 
Meanwhile the Maryland at anchor lies 
Within the Chesapeake, a tempting prize, 
So hastening hither ours embark on this 
And all rejoicing reach Annapolis. 
Then Hicks the governor of Maryland 
Forbids a landing to the northern band; 
" Not northern troops," our general replies, 
" But nation's troops, no man their right denies 
To guard their Capitol and President: 
These are the men by Massachusetts sent! " 
In well drilled ranks upon the land they pour, 
But in dismay they find that long before 
The iron rails that led to Washington 
Torn up by foes are scattered now and gone; 
The engines shattered lie along the way; 
Though Yankee soldiers craftsmen too are they, 
With rails, collected engines in repair 
They build the road for all who enter there; 
And troop by troop our squadrons onward speed 
To greet our Chief with aid in hour of need. 
Then Maryland might well her choice deplore, 
When patriots through our land curse Baltimore: 
" Bow down in haste thy guilty head, 

God 's wrath is swift and sore; 
The sky with gathering bolts is red, 
Cleanse from thy skirts the slaughter shed, 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



2 9 



Or make thyself an ashen bed, 

Oh Baltimore! " 
But Baltimore sees other scenes ere long, 
When Butler with a force ten thousand strong 
Tramps through the streets to take her neighboring heights: 
Such power her silenced unionists delights. 
Secession here is quelled and from the north, 
The troops henceforth through Baltimore pass forth. 

****** 

Below that sun-lit dome of Washington, 

For such a place how strange the deeds now done! 

Vast hive of corriders that tireless hum 

With soldiers early called at tap of drum. 

Below with meat and bread the vaults are filled, 

In kitchens vast what roaring fires they build! 

The chimneys like volcanoes threatening smoke; 

The citadel its silence long hath broke 

The hills and city entrances around 

With watchful union garrisons abound; 

Yet still the South with folly overcast 

Expect to win these guarded walls at last. 

THE RISING OF THE WEST. 

AT Lincoln's cry for aid fair peace yet tills 
> Ohio's fertile vales and grassy hills, 
One-hundred-thousand troops wake at the call, 
McClellan, trained a soldier, leads them all; 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



And gallant Wallace whom the whole world knows, 

Long since in Mexico he fought our foes, 

Now. rouses youthful Indiana's might 

And thousands soon are ready for the fight. 

And Governor Yates wakes sturdy Illinois; 

What better cause could eloquence employ ? 

Four thousand men he wins within one day, 

Strong sons of wind-swept prairie lands are they. 

Then Douglas, hero mourned for brief career 

In Springfield and Chicago far and near 

Awakes in all a patriotic zeal; 

No jealousy his faithful heart can feel, 

Though Lincoln won the place he longs to fill, 

For Lincoln and his country with a will 

Full loyal speaks he till Death's bolt doth fall 

And weeping patriots gather round his pall. 

From Minnesota and Wisconsin come 

Great stores for aid and thrice the asked for sum 

Of levied troops to swell our legions vast; 

Iowa too, is loyal to the last. 

Missouri teeming now with rebel bands, 

Redeems her name through Captain Lyon's hands. 

With prompt attack he seizes Frost's strong fort 

And thus St. Louis saves her fair report. 

Of union state preserved by German arms 

Though mobs may hiss and work them secret harms; 

Through Arkansaw a reign of fear is spread 

All unionists unconquered now have fled 

And e'en the red men on the border found 

Perforce to Southern powers are strictly bound. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



But brave John Ross, chief of the Cherokees, 
Stands ground till swept away by enemies; 
And when the Rebel flag they seek to raise 
The wife of Ross well wins the hero's praise: 
For trampling it beneath her feet she cries; 
" The banner of our union here shall rise, 
Above our council-house, oh let it float; 
No traitor o'er the union here shall gloat; 
Our fires, oh Cherokees, will never burn, 
If to the south and slavery we turn! " 
Her nation hears, a woman's power prevails; 
The insurgent force beneath her spirit quails. 



BOOK III. 



DEATH OF ELLSWORTH. 

AT midnight come the troops from Washington 
O'er bridges where Potomac's waters run; 
And shining bayonets in the moonlight gleam; 
The footfalls of the blue-clad warriors seem 
Like sullen roar of thunder from afar 
Proclaiming to Virginia wasting war: 
Now Arlington's historic heights they climb 
And build their forts while yet 'tis morning prime. 
The fire zouaves by youthful Ellsworth led 
Had hastened o'er the stream by boat, 'tis said, 
And now had entered Alexandria town. 
Why gathers on their leader's face that frown ? 
O'er Jackson's inn, long flaunting on the breeze 
The rebel flag, his country's shame, he sees. 
Defiantly it had for many a day 
Met Lincoln's saddened eyes while far away 
Within the White House ceaselessly he toiled. 
Shall Colonel Ellsworth's courage here be foiled ? 
Up, up the winding steps he hastes along 
And tears the ensign from its moorings strong. 
Oh, fair brave martyr, shot by traitor's dart, 
No boy in blue e'er bore a truer heart, 
Of all the thousands that the nation sent 
O'er whose loved forms the mourning ones have bent. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



BIRTH OF WEST VIRGINIA. 

BEYOND the Allegheny's towering hills 
Where flows Kanawha from her mountain rills 
The Old Dominion once held in her sway 
A beauteous land, tried patriots were they 
The people, and so loyal to the north 
That from the mother state they issued forth; 
So West Virginia, child of war, was born, 
The motto by the mountain Christians worn 
Appeared upon her shield of liberty, 
" We mountaineers shall ever more be free/' 



SKIRMISH AT BETHEL CHURCH. 

BEN BUTLER, leader of the volunteers 
Advances southward where a prey to fears, 
Stands Fort Monroe, the guardian of the bay, 
No longer can those walls keep foes away. 
But Dimick, like Leonidas of old 
With thrice one hundred warriors strives to hold 
The narrow entrance pass till all is sure, 
For Butler plans the outposts to secure. 
At length appears a negro contraband 
With news that rebel forces are at hand 
Near Bethel Church upon the Yorktown road. 
Here death is ours, by cruel fate bestowed; 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED, 



For when our troops by different ways advance 

To attack this rebel stronghold, by what chance 

No one can tell, the garments of one band 

Through dim light seen by friends now close at hand 

Appear so like the insurgents' uniform 

That suddenly ensues a fearful storm 

Of musketry, where blind, friends right with friends, 

This tumult to the foes a warning sends. 

Yet spite of all our loss we onward press, 

The number of our enemies is less. 

But death besets our way, our chiefs are slain; 

Courageous Winthrop, pierced to the brain 

And Greble brave and good, by glancing blow 

While in the thick of battle are laid low. 

Two youthful leaders full of promise fall; 

The Southrons onward press and conquer all. 



THE CRUISE OF THE ST. NICHOLAS. 
T. NICHOLAS, once Captain Kirwan's pride 



O From Baltimore to Lookout Landing plied; 
Some Maryland mechanics boarded her, 
A lady too from France set all astir. 
When near the journey's end what wonder grew, 
When dropping this disguise appeared to view 
A rebel pirate, and at his command 
Those artful laborers stood near at hand 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



To do their chieftain's bidding and to seize, 

The helpless captain; forced upon his knees 

He soon was bound by oath to land his boat 

Upon Virginia's shore where still afloat 

The rebels fettered all the trembling crew 

Bore them to land and into dungeons threw. 

Thenceforth St. Nicholas, by pirates manned 

Cruised o'er the bay and seized on every hand 

Our union brigs with precious stores afloat. 

But pirate Thomas by another boat 

Across the Chesapeake had homeward turned 

And still his heart for other conquests yearned. 

At length our watchful coasters hemmed him round, 

And searched for Thomas who at last was found 

Within a chest hid carefully away; 

They drew him trembling to the light of day: 

Then borne to Fort McHenry with his friends. 

At last the prisoned corsair made amends 

For these mad pranks upon the Chesapeake 

Where rebel cruisers endless mischief seek. 



PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 

IT seemed the sands of union life had run 
When lowered the dark war clouds of sixty-one, 
And nations from beyond the seas had heard 
From southern messengers the whispered word 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



That dissolution to the states had come, 

That through our cities roll of martial drum 

Called brother 'gainst his brother to bear arms. 

No peaceful vessel sailed without alarms; 

And some among the eastern nations said: 

" The states united once, no more we dread; 

Like beasts they soon will tear themselves apart; " 

And so the monarchies rejoiced at heart. 

Not so the champions of liberty. 

Who loved our land, the refuge of the free, 

Their aid, their hopes, their prayers were with us then, 

Their words were swords; they fought for us like men 

The southrons said to longing English powers; 

" Free trade we promise when the land is ours. ,, 

And Britain pondered in this merry rhyme 

Which she would fain forget in later time: 

" Though with the north we sympathize 

It must not be forgotten 
That with the south we've stronger ties 

Of bound and twisted cotton 
Whereof our imports mount unto 

A sum of many figures. 
And where would be our calico 

Without the toil of niggers $ 

u The south enslaves those fellow men 

Whom we love all so dearly, 
The North keeps commerce bound again, 

Which touches us more nearly 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



And thus divided duty we 

Perceive in this hard matter: 
Free trade or sable brothers free — 

Do you think we'll choose the latter ? " 

"But faithful were the leaders in our cause, 

For Lincoln, once aroused, without a pause 

Pressed on, with kindred spirits at his side; 

Then Welles throughout our territories wide 

To man the ships of war called forth marines 

And Chase secured the treasury with means 

To furnish marching thousands with supplies 

When war and desolation should arise. 

The wise and watchful Seward sought afar 

To guard us from the ills of foreign war, 

And Bates and Blair and Smith, and Cameron, 

Were golden names that northern praises won. 

Through all the loyal states the busy hand 

Of woman toiled to aid her threatened land. 

E'en toddling children scraped the lint for wounds 

Or played at war and mimicked battle's sounds, 

Or bandages and garments helped to fold 

For those whose yearning arms their loved would hold. 

Then Dorothea Dix went forth to bear 

Of war's hard burdens woman's blessed share, 

From field to field when battle's rage was o'er 

She moved, and sweet relief to sufferers bore: 

In camp and hospital, where'er appeared 

That gentle mother's face sad hearts were cheered: 



38 COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 

% 

At many a cot where youthful hero lay 

She caught the last faint words he longed to say 

To loved ones in the north whose hearts would bound 

At one dear voice that never more shall sound. 



BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 

WHAT tongue can tell the horrors of that day 
When first the armies of the north gave way; 
Then in their wild disorder breathless fled 
And left the helpless wounded and the dead 
Upon Virginia's blood-stained hill and plain! 
And thousands never reached their homes again. 
With faces bright and martial colors gay 
Had these marched forth from Washington that day; 
Through peaceful country roads, past wood and stream 
And o'er the low stone bridge where bright the gleam 
Of mountain rivulet, the blue coats passed; 
They drank or bathed their faces where was cast 
The grateful shadow of the mountain side, 
Or filled their tin canteens, where pools were wide. 
To westward flows another stream around, 
Encircling full a mile of rising ground. 
The level top to south is wooded land; 
Within this ambush safe the grey coats stand 
Protected by their cavalry at rear; 
Beyond the stream more southern troops appear. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Their leader, Evans, opens battle soon, 

Our Burnside, ready on the approach of noon 

With troops refreshed, advancing makes a charge 

When Evans weakens but with forces large 

Comes General Bee in haste with welcome aid. 

Then Burnside's power momently is staid 

When suddenly to succor Porter flies, 

And mingled shrieks of death and victory rise. 

For one dread hour the combat equal stands 

When Sherman from the Stone Bridge with his bands 

In haste advancing drives the grey coats back; 

Across the heights they flee, not once they slack 

Till Jackson's Battery reached, their general cries, 

" Form! Form with courage, here our safety lies! " 

Like wall of stone stands General Jackson there, 

Henceforth the name of " Stonewall " shall he bear. 

The southern bands now hold this refuge strong; 

Then five of our brigades in struggle long, 

Fight fiercely to dislodge them from the height. 

Full in the center of the fearful fight 

There stands a solitary house; within 

A woman poor and helpless hears the din; 

The shriek of shot and shell and dying groan; 

Upon her bed she lies with fear alone, 

Nor 'scapes the cruel bolts that pierce her walls; 

What care war-demons for her feeble calls ? 

But our artillery and brave zouaves 

Advancing up the slope are cut in halves 

By Stuart's Black Horse Cavalry that dash 

Across their ranks, and now the whole heights flash. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Opposing lines advance with blaze of fire, 

The horses wildly plunge, shriek, fall, expire. 

Their riders roll among the struggling mass; 

And half our cannon useless stand, alas 

Men's arms and heads by shells are dashed away 

The cannoneers lie mangled by the way. 

With troop on troop our generals still arise, 

The grey-coats drive them back with taunting cries. 

Our Cameron falls w T here the fight is hot, 

And Corcoran, his steed beneath him shot 

Is captured by the foe and borne away. 

But Beauregard though wounded still bears sway 

And " Stonewall " Jackson scarcely feels his wound. 

Yet Fortune would for us have won the ground, 

But look! a distant cloud of dust appears 

An aid four thousand strong our foeman cheers. 

They scour the fields, the wood-clad heights they gain 

Our wearied troops no further strength retain. 

They turn! they yield! they leave the blood-stained height, 

Their arms, their colors, all their spoils delight 

The victors. Now the vanquished, o'er the plain 

In haste their camps by Washington regain. 

"All, all is lost! " the panic-stricken cry. 

The crowds that early came with curious eye 

To view from neighboring hills a tourney strife 

In terror turn away and flee for life; 

And Washington grows dark with nameless dread 

As hundreds of the wounded and the dead 

Pass through her fair broad streets when northward borne 

To darkened homes first called our loss to moan. 



BOOK IV. 



SOUTHERN TRIUMPHS. 
T close of Bull Run's memorable day 



l\ The grey coats bear their prisoners away, 
To Richmond city where 'mid curse and sneer 
On crowded street with rebel guards appear 
Our vanquished war stained heroes of the fray; 
Soon heroes in a prison's trials they. 
In Harwood's factory six-hundred men 
In haste are herded. 'Tis a stifling pen 
So small that these can scarce find room to rest, 
Though miserable they bravely stand the test 
Of martyrs, and with joke, and speech and song 
Beguile the weary hours and still are strong. 
Meanwhile around beleaguered Washington 
From morning till the setting of the sun, 
For many a day the rebels aimless move 
Nor once against the foe their metal prove. 
Their leaders, Beauregard and Johnston, long 
To take the city, nor delay prolong, 
But Davis gloating o'er past victory 
To such decisive act will ne'er agree. 
So unionists at last shake off their fear, 
From the exhaustless north new troops appear. 




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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



McClellan now the chief commander made 

Moves here and there and scattered troops are stayed 

He quickly gathers, disciplines, equips, 

No task inferior his attention slips; 

One-hundred-thousand men, the nation's pride 

Are safely gathered by Potomac's side 

And fort by fort the river-front along 

With union forces stored arises strong. 

A reign of terror through the south begun 

The loyalists are silenced one by one. 

Some banished from their homes must northward flee 

But Parson Brownlow down in Tennessee 

Will not be silenced till the gathering foe 

In hot pursuit no further mercy show. 

He seeks the sheltering mountains where at last 

By treachery captured and in chains held fast 

He yields, but firmly braves the threats of death 

And ruggedly declares that his last breath 

Shall be an offering to union's cause. 

Around him martyrs fall by rebel laws; 

Yet fate spares Brownlow from the gallows tree, 

For in this man of God his captors see 

A prophet dread w T ho calls down wrath divine, 

Unharmed they speed him past the rebel line. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



SIEGE OF FORT DONELSON. 

AMONG the wilds of northern Tennessee 
The Cumberland flows on through wood and 
When suddenly her course is turned below 
Where o'er the bluff there spreads a broad plateau. 
Fort Donelson with batteries walled about 
Across the stream with watchful eyes looks out. 
Within the fortress come from day to day 
The southern hosts till thousands strong are they. 
Advancing through the forest and ravine 
Where scattered foes in ambush lurk unseen, 
In circle wide Grant draws his troops around 
Beleaguering the fort, though many a wound 
His valiant followers must take and give. 
But courage in their hearts still wakes to live. 
Once joyfully they on the river hail 
Four union war-ships clad in iron mail. 
Loud boom their guns, the batteries reply, 
And to and fro the screeching missiles fly. 
When Foote, our commodore has almost won 
And from the ramparts flight has just begun, 
Alas! two well-aimed shots strike vital parts, 
And tear the wheel and tiller from the hearts 
Of two stout ships that mangled float away; 
So crippled are the rest they dare not stay. 
Our foes, surprised, exulting at the rout 
To landward quickly wheel their force about 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



And Grant with scattered troops but trusty aids 
Is here and there oppressed by endless raids 
From hostile fort, for now in skillful hands 
Of Buckner, Floyd and Pillow are the bands 
Who strive to break Ulysses* circling chain 
And still our troops retreat but yet again 
McClernand, Wallace, Cruft lead our attack 
Despairing not, though ever beaten back. 
The day declines and from the northern hills, 
The wind blows bleak, to soldiers boding ills; 
Our weary men from strife now weak and sore 
Unsheltered e'en by tents must bear yet more; 
The wounded, on the field are left to die; 
Mid snow and chilling wind, no help comes nigh; 
Our foemen, too, so long on guard, relax 
And even sleep beneath our fierce attacks. 
At morn our fainting spirits rise anew 
As from the east fresh aids appear to view. 
Though oft at eve poor souls in misery grope, 
At morning's dawn again they thrill with hope. 
Two rebel leaders stealthily have fled, 
And Buckner at the fort remains in dread: 
To Grant in haste he sends for armistice 
Our general's answer to the truce is this: 
" No terms but full surrender I accept! 
By this alone shall harm from yours be kept! " 
He yields with bitterness as one must yield 
Whose friends have left him helpless on the field, 
And thus Fort Donelson is ours at last. 
Below the rapid river flowing past 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



45 



Must bear upon her current many a sigh 
For those who won the battle but to die. 



CAPTURE OF NASHVILLE AND NEW MADRID. 

ALL Nashville's streets with terror were aflame, 
When on that fatal Sunday message came 
That Donelson, their tower of strength no more, 
Had yielded and the union colors bore. 
Some steeple bells forgot to call to prayer, 
Some woke to wild alarm the Sabbath air; 
Deserted were the altar and the pew, 
And louder through the streets the tumult grew; 
From house and bank the treasure hoards were snatched; 
The home deserted and the door unlatched: 
With hurried consultations and adieux, 
They fled away when came the startling news 
Of foeman's and of pillagers' advance, 
Some here, some there, nor backward cast a glance. 
Quick from the Capitol the Governor brought 
The treasured archives and far Memphis sought. 
They burned their bridges in their swift retreat; 
In envious flames they left the half-built fleet, 
The rebel army stayed not to defend 
But southward fled by ways that never end. 
Full sixty-thousand tramped o'er miry roads 
When horse and man sank deep beneath their loads. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



For six long weeks they paused not in retreat, 
Benumbed by searching blasts and wintry sleet; 
Through many a town they passed and crowded there 
The sick, who weary flight no more could bear. 

****** 

Meantime the union forces circle round 

Dismantled Nashville humbled to the ground, 

For southern pillagers, a lawless mob 

Had come before to plunder and to rob. 

Our troops encamp with Buell in command 

And order is restored on every hand: 

They win to friendship all who tarry there, 

The bridges and the roads they soon repair, 

And now proud capital of Tennessee, 

Mourn not that thine own flag hath made thee free! 

Now here, now there, the- northern armies haste; 

Along the Mississippi follow fast 

Our victories o'er many a fort and town; 

Columbus in Kentucky must go down; 

The aiding forces of the south have fled — 

When Foote and Sherman on their warships dread 

Approach, they find our foes no longer there; 

Their well stocked forts by smouldering flames laid ba 

Their guns, too cumbrous to be borne in flight 

Down hurled below the bluff escape our sight. 

Across the river broad stands New Madrid 

With rebels in her sheltering earthworks hid, 

And in their gunboats all along the shore; 

A neighboring island shelters thousands more. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



47 



Our General Pope with forty-thousand strong 
Invests this post Missouri's shores along 
And cannons roar o'er Mississippi's tide 
Till darkness settles o'er the conflict wide. 
Then nature angry that man's puny power 
Should e'er surpass her, in this twilight hour 
Awakes in might, sends thunders thro' the skies 
Beneath the lightning frightened darkness flies. 
Perchance she strives to terrify our foe 
Whose helpless ships toss on the stream below, 
Beneath the buffeting of wind and rain; 
Surprised we see when morning dawns again 
That all have fled and scattered near and far 
Are wagons, tents, and implements of war. 



FORT PILLOW. 
OMMANDER FOOTE unharmed sailed down the 



With many a ship whose decks were all agleam 
With polished bayonets of his watchful crew; 
Fort Pillow reached, a threat'ning missile threw. 
Ours sought the shores upon the further side 
And hurled their shots across the river wide; 
Fort Pillow answered and for twice seven days 
In doubtful conflict fought the Blues and Greys. 
At length upon the Mississippi's tides 
From southern port a thing of terror glides: 




stream 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



" The rebel ram! " our startled soldiers cry, 

On, on she comes; in vain we seek to fly. 

Against our Cincinnati first she rides 

Nor heeds our rain of missiles at her sides, 

Stout mail protects her and with deafening sound 

She deals our fearless ship a fatal wound. 

Our Stembel shoots the pilot of our foe, 

But he in turn falls by a rebel blow. 

The Cincinnati slowly sinks from sight, 

Her crew escape; and now with all her might 

Victorious Mallory is speeding by 

When ours aboard St. Louis forward fly. 

Brave ship, the monster ram she pierces through; 

Down goes the terror with her hapless crew. 

Our foes soon crippled by a storm of shell, 

Their helpless craft drift south the tale to tell. 

To ours Fort Pillow and Fort Randolph yield, 

And Memphis soon must be our battle-field. 

When from our fleet her spires appear in sight 

The rebel boats again advance for fight 

And fiercer yet the conflict wakes anew. 

Our foemen start, a ball comes crashing through 

Their warship Lovell and the rushing tide 

In torrents pours within her riven side; 

With white-faced crew she gurgling sinks from sight, 

While we speed onward to a fiercer fight. 

With bursting shells the air resounds and gleams, 

Like Hell's high carnival the conflict seems; 

They turn at last and reach the friendly shore; 

Escaping to the woods they're seen no more. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



49 



Now lurid flames and smoke enwrap each boat, 
Now blackened hulks upon the waters float; 
Despairing Memphis yields to union power. 
The northern hopes grow brighter from this hour. 



THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 

V ■ ^IS April and in southern Tennessee 

1 The buds breathe sweetness from each wayside tree; 
O'er soft green moss the loved arbutus trails 
Its fragrant mantle wraps the woodland dales — 
Oh rapturous promise in this southern clime 
Of languorous days in dreamy summer time! 
In weary hearts bright hope awakes anew, 
And thrills our long dulled senses through and through. 
Then love awakes and sings in throat of bird 
Then voices of the insect host are heard; 
And dreams Elysian grow reality 
And opened eyes can God in all things see. 
To south and north, 'mid pain and fear and strife, 
Comes all the beauty of spring's new born life; 
But what a doom hangs o'er fair Shiloh's head! 
That peaceful spot must mourn its bloodstained dead. 
Our leaders with their armies thousands strong 
Pass up the Tennessee in squadrons long. 
Here Grant commands, and here has Wallace led 
His troops, while others, Sherman at the head 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Encamp by Shiloh's church while here and there 
Are bands in Prentiss' and McClernand's care. 
The flower of western fields seems gathered here 
While from the woods that rise so darkly near 
The rebel hoards in countless legions swarm, 
Now southern Johnston's plan at last takes form. 
He knows that Grant few battles yet has fought, 
By rebel hosts the novice may be caught: 
At Corinth gathering fifty thousand men 
To northward stealing over hill and glen, 
He camps by night and at the break of day 
Ere ours just waked can arm them for the fray 
He rushes in, and deadly volleys sweep 
Through tented field in hush of harmless sleep. 
Our helpless men fly forth to seize their arms; 
Like baffled mob they flee, in dread alarms; 
As on some hillside bursts a reservoir 
Its waters down the vale in fury pour; 
A threatening mass, remorselessly they leap, 
O'er clustering villages the torrents sweep, 
The people from the hamlet helpless flee 
For soon they're buried in a roaring sea: 
Such seems the fate of ours by wiles oppressed, 
Here Prentiss yields and Sherman at his best 
Can ne'er resist the flight of that sad morn, 
But he for death by sword had not been born. 
McClernand rallying bears the shock alone, 
But as each rebel band in turn is blown 
Another fresh in strength their places fills 
He yields at last, oppressed by hopeless ills. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



The southern road to Corinth Hurlbut holds; 

Here thrice about his force with serpent folds 

Our foes are cast, with victory elate, 

And thrice repulsed they yield at last to fate, 

With grape and canister our ranks they mow 

For five long hours our men no respite know, 

Their valiant captains bravely hold the field; 

'Neath Bragg two horses fall; he will not yield. 

Then Hindman's steed a shell to fragments tears, 

And ten feet high the fearless rider bears 

Who when to earth returned regains his feet 

And horsed once more returns the foe to meet. 

At last we see their leader Johnston fall, 

Struck by the chance recoil of union ball; 

When Beauregard, advancing in his stead 

The army know not that their chief lies dead. 

But we are driven to a slow retreat 

Though soon the the river rolling at our feet 

Forbids all further flight while yet our foes 

In gathering lines about us grimly close; 

When lo! our gunboats showering shot on all, 

The rebel squadrons back in terror fall: 

A lurid darkness gathers o'er the field, 

'Tis night, all eyes in death-like sleep are sealed. 

'Twas God's sweet day of rest that thus had past 

What terrors o'er its hours flitted fast: 

Oh mourn, ye mothers, when the south winds sigh 

To you it bears the words that faintly rise 

From parched lips of patriot boys in blue, 

Who dying on this field now yearn for you! 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Oh weep, sad wives, for faithful ones lie low 
'Mong fallen steeds and scattered arms, where blow 
Th€ winds of eve to fan the fevered brow 
Of him who dying prayeth for you now. 
Oh cruel War! thy reign is almost o'er! 
The coming age shall know thy woes no more, 
For man with man will cease his useless strife, 
And centuries hence shall know a better life. 

****** 

At break of day the conflict wakes anew, 
For night has brought recruits to aid the blue: 
Our weary enemies hold few reserves 
No wonder that their leader's courage swerves; 
So Beauregard against such odds retreats 
To Corinth, where his soldiers fill the streets 
And guard the hamlet while a message sent 
Reports to Richmond how the day was spent. 
With spade and pick their camp they trench about 
For six long weeks we storm their safe redoubt. 
Now here, now there, our Halleck's sharp attack 
From useless labor drives them swiftly back; 
Our forces to a hundred thousand grown 
Infest them south and north till hope is flown 
From their beleagured army, who retreat 
'Neath sheltering night, unseen with stealthy feet 
And scarce avails pursuit, though in their flight 
The sick and wounded borne away that night 
With arms and stores and trappings are our share; 
For helpless foes the conquerors kindly care. 



BOOK V. 



THE SIEGE OF NEW ORLEANS. 



AR westward where the towering Rockies raise 



1 Those everlasting walls of ancient days, 
And eastward where the Alleghanies rise 
In deep blue haze aglow with sunset skies; 
And high in Minnesota's northern land 
Where dark primeval forests threatening stand 
Unnumbered streamlets start from hidden springs 
Where mosses creep and where the wild bird sings; 
From upland countries sweet and pure as they 
Down, down they haste to mingle with the clay; 
Or sweep along the plain through desert miles, 
And cheer a barren land by passing smiles; 
Alluring men to build along their sides 
Though thankless pioneers pollute their tides. 
The streams impure, ashamed seek dark disguise 
Where broad and turbid Mississippi lies. 
Then flows that envious river thro* the land 
Begrudging soil where countless cities stand; 
At strife with man whose puny levees keep 
The rising waters in their channels deep. 
With wandering course she flows thro' southern scenes 
And here above her banks spreads New Orleans, 




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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



A city vast, whose ships rich cargoes bore 

Surpassing Venice in the days of yore. 

And citizens there were whom wisdom taught 

That northern states, whence all their wealth was brought 

Were better friends than those who sought to break 

The bands of union, and our cause forsake. 

Yet 'round that city fair, with tightening hold, 

Secession strove its serpent coils to fold; 

And soon the voice of Liberty was hushed, 

All patriot power by southern schemes was crushed. 

The place became the stronghold of the south. 

Hence down the river, north-east from the mouth 

Within the Gulf, that land-locked southern bay, 

A long low-lying sandy island lay. 

Here union forces fourteen thousand strong 

With Farragut and Butler waited long. 

But New Orleans in General Lovell's care 

With strong defense was guarded here and there. 

On either side where low the river runs 

Forts Jackson and St. Philip showed their guns, 

And here athwart the waters spread a raft 

Of heavy trees together knit with craft 

And held by ponderous chains from side to side. 

The stream with vigor of its spring time pride 

In haughty wrath swept all these bars away, 

The half-drowned forts its power could scarcely stay. 

Our Farragut at last appeared in sight 

With mighty fleet, advancing for the fight, 

When lo, a raft by rebel hands piled high 

With flaming wood and pitch came floating by. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



At length with iron hooks we grasped and turned 
The raft to shore where harmlessly it burned. 
Four ships of ours, disguised in foliage green 
Lest from the rebel watch towers they be seen, 
As Birnam Wood once came to Dunsinane 
Advanced upon the forts their power to gain. 
Fort Jackson, watching sent a booming ball, 
An hundred yards amiss she saw it fall; 
Nqw to and fro the shots were seen to fly 
All harmless, save that hosts of fish swept by 
Quite dead beneath the cannon's roaring shocks, 
Or stunned by bursting shells beneath the rocks. 
For five long days a doubtful warfare raged 
Nor was the fury of our foes assuaged, 
At last the cable barriers swept away 
No further rebel power our ships could stay. 
In squadrons three we portioned out our fleet, 
And Farragut with one sailed forth to meet 
On western bank Fort Jackson's missiles dread; 
Another on the east by Bailey led 
On Fort St. Philip's lesser walls should fire; 
As aids the lesser boats must all conspire. 
For midway, through the center of the stream, 
The Iroquois and swift Itasca gleam; 
Scioto and Winona in the throng; 
With Kennebec, Pinola light and strong. 
The six in care of brave and watchful Bell, 
Must sail ahead the rebel fleet to quell — 
'Tis night and dark and swift the river sweeps 
Yet fearlessly the course each vessel keeps. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Then with our fleet advancing all goes well, 

Save that Itasca, 'mid a shower of shell 

Her boiler pierced must helpless backward float; 

While Farragut, attacked by rebel boat, 

The ram Manassas, stoutly bears the shock 

Yet feels from stem to stern his Brooklyn rock. 

The sandbags catch the ponderous shell they cast, 

And woven armor on the sides made fast 

Receives the beak and parries well the blow. 

Then into darkness flees our harmless foe. 

Our Bailey, standing on Cayuga s deck 

Sees eighteen ships that menace him with wreck — 

The rebels strive to butt and board his boat, 

They miss their aim — far down the stream they float. 

A rebel ram with treacherous beak concealed 

Beneath the waters, greater power can wield: 

She bores Varunas flanks but, sticking fast 

Is held 'longside. while down we pour a blast 

Of shot and shell on her defenseless deck; 

Her hold relaxed she floats away a wreck. 

Through crash and roar and flame and direful scenes 

Victorious at last in New Orleans 

Our struggling fleet arrives: what sights we meet 

Where ruin aids our foes to bear defeat! 

Vast vessels stored with bales of precious freight, 

And steamers fired, a swift destruction wait; 

They mount in crackling brands and billowy smoke, 

That seem the wrath of heaven to provoke. 

The sun is veiled from earth in deepest gloom 

And leaves the fated city to its doom. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



57 



But pitying Heaven at last descends in rain 

To cleanse the earth that man pollutes in vain; 

The levees reached our men send up their cheers, 

A motley hooting southern mob appears; 

Yet daring all our Captain Bailey lands, 

Advancing to the mayor he demands 

Surrender of the city and display 

Of our own flag that now has won the day. 

The mayor claims no power to comply: 

Our men ascend the mint and place on high 

Our war-stained flag to float upon the air; 

Scarce done, a band of watchful rebels dare 

To snatch it while unguarded by our men, 

And down into the street they cast it, then 

'Tis dragged in mire and stamped and spit upon, 

The flag that all our victories had won. 

At cannon's mouth the rebel flags come down; 

'Mid wrathful curses and malignant frown 

Of those who dare no longer to be bold 

While ours in triumph all the city hold. 

Now Butler with his transports in the rear, 

Has won the forts and soon his boats appear. 

He takes the captured city in his care 

A task too hard for Farragut to bear. 

But Butler, he would brave the fiends of hell, 

As chief tormenter he could tease them well. 

The mob salute him with a threatening shout; 

"D nd Yankee! " and Old Cock-eye! " sound about. 

"Hurrah for Jeff ! Hurrah for Beauregard! 
Go home, old villain; southerners die hard! " 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



His troops soon landed rally round their chief 

To press of foes they bring a glad relief. 

St. Charles hotel must open wide her doors 

To Butler, all to order he restores. 

And what are spiteful women led to do 

To vent their spleen upon the boys in blue ? 

When passing through the streets they toss the head 

Or draw the dress aside, these dames well-bred, 

When union soldiers chance to march that way. 

And one more bold than others when one day 

Two officers appear, asserts her right 

By spitting in their faces; such a sight 

Is more than Butler's patience can endure, 

And seeking for his soldiers to secure 

Respect, at least, has proclamation made, 

That 4 like a woman low who plies her trade ' 

Shall she be treated who an insult gives 

To soldiers by whose arms the Union lives. 

In helpless wrath the Mayor shouts: " For shame !" 

Which England bravely echoes, heaping blame 

In Parliament and Court, on Butler's deed: 

But he is soon from further trouble freed, 

The blatant Mayor he secures in jail 

And schemes of mischief through the city fail. 

Be just to Butler, in those hours of need 

What warrior knew better how to lead ? 

He fed the hungry, silenced deadly foes 

Enriched the nation worn with want and woes. 

What though the man of strength hath faults that call 

Reproaches oft, let virtues hide them all. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Like some stout oak that thriving saps the ground 
And weaker trees ne'er flourish far around, 
The raging storm his sturdy arms can breast 
While man and beast beneath his shelter rest. 



THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC. 
r HEN ours abandon to the enemy 



V V The forts and ships at Norfolk by the sea 
Our frigate Merrimac with forty guns 
We sink where broad and deep the river runs. 
The rebels gladly seize the damaged prize; 
Soon drained by pumps her dripping decks arise. 
Now busily they fashion her anew, 
The siding to the water's edge they hew 
And from the strong low hull with skill they raise 
A curious fort whose walls a shot may graze 
But ne'er can pierce for all the sides are steel 
And gaping ports ten deep-mouthed guns reveal. 
Her beak in front would rive the stoutest oak. 
Should we this cruel monster dare provoke. 
In Hampton Roads at peace our ships delay. 
Where spreads the James its broad and sheltered bay 
When from our decks we first behold the sight 
A creature strange, advancing for the fight; 
Two other rebel gun-boats her attend, 
And still two more their course to southward bend, 




6o 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Against our Cumberland the monster bears 

And through her bow a frightful gash she tears. 

Our gallant ship sends forth a storm of shell; 

But flanks of iron bear the tempest well. 

While our frail frigate pierced to the heart 

By cruel beak, at sides now burst apart 

Feels streams of water rushing in amain, 

Yet still her guns are heard to boom again. 

At last strong Morris bids his trusty crew 

Still brave as ever, though so weak and few, . 

Desert the ship fast sinking to the wave, 

And leave the wounded whom no power can save. 

Oh martyred ones who helpless lie within! 

'Tis yours, 'tis yours, a fadeless wreath to win. 

One-hundred! would that fame those names might tell, 

Brave sufferers who hold that ship so well. 

With colors proudly floating from her mast 

Nine fathoms deep our vessel sinks at last. 

Meanwhile our boat, the Congress sore oppressed, 

Must flee her foes and 'neath our batteries rest; 

The Merrimac approaches, threatening death, 

And two more rebel crafts pour fiery breath 

From cannon we are helpless to escape 

That sweep the hapless Congress with their grape. 

Her captain, master and her pilot slain 

Her hull ablaze, scarce half her crew remain. 

At last she yields though noble is the fight, 

But look! from Fort Monroe what meets our sight? 

Is that a boat ? Scarce raised above the wave, 

Appears the narrow hull where colors brave, 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Our stars and stripes, so brightly o'er her float, 

While speeds along that dark mysterious boat. 

Our enemy behold and laugh in glee; 

"A cheese box on a raft is all we see/' 

They shout, deriding, while the little craft 

Against their conquering boat appears abaft. 

The Monitor, our dauntless warrior queen, 

Now here, now there, around her foe is seen; 

She pours the shot and shell where'er she flies, 

The Merrimac with spiteful storms replies: 

As when the angry heavens begin to lower, 

And thick the hail-stones dash in rattling shower, 

Upon some granite cliff above the sea, 

Rebounding one by one they harmless flee 

In shame, to hide forever in the wave 

While that grey rock that countless blasts must br 

All calm beneath the storm awaits the sun: 

So their strong ship unscathed by shower of gun 

Scorns puny foe, this dauntless Merrimac 

And on our Minnesota makes attack, 

And storm on storm she flings of screeching shell. 

Upon our foe at last our shots must tell. 

Her careles pilot, running her aground 

Our nimble Monitor now darts around 

And here and there an entrance strives to gain, 

While blasts from Minnesota ceaseless rain. 

By desperate struggle from the shoals now free 

And crippled from attacks she seeks to flee; 

When suddenly she turns again in spite 

And on her little foe with all her might, 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



She rushes with a crash across the bow. 
Alas! how vain her boasted valor now! 
Her prow is battered by her own attack, 
Unharmed the Monitor swift speeding back 
Pursues her wounded foe whose quick retreat 
Our wearied men with cheers of victory greet. 



BOOK VI. 



BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. 



AT Yorktown in the old historic home 
Of Governor Nelson, are together come 
The counselors of all the southern host — 
Within these walls Cornwallis made his boast 
Long years ago, that England by her might 
Would put Columbia's colonies to flight 
Like leaves long dead, that speed before the gale; 
The British general's ruddy face grew pale 
When shot and shell besieged him in those walls, 
How soon beneath assaults pride's courage falls! 
And here another flight like his is planned. 
" The dangers of the place at last demand," 
Says Davis to his generals gathered there 
" That we withdrawing all our forces bear 
Protection to our capital within: 
Upon the coast our enemy must win, 
With such a terror as their iron-clad. 
Effrontery like theirs will drive me mad." 
At last 'mid war of words and much dissent, 
His arguments the minds of all have bent. 
His way is best: their garrisons and bands 
Soon seek their safety in more sheltered lands; 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Our men make haste to follow up the foe 

But little dream what snares the way will show. 

On either side forbidding rivers lie. 

A bastioned fortress o'er the road stands high 

Along the wall a miry moat and black, 

Here, one by one, our corps are driven back; 

But Hooker never yields, for well he knows 

That aid will come to wrestle with his foes; 

Oft sore oppressed nine hours he holds his own, 

Unaided save by Peck's brigade alone 

That manfully supports him on the right, 

Yet still our longed-for host comes not in sight. 

At last Phil. Kearney, with his gallant corps 

Comes dashing up before the fight is o'er, 

Though twice eight hundred slaughtered lie beside 

Those ramparts, where the rebels safely hide. 

What means McClellan, leader of our host, 

To tarry till our victory is lost? 

His trusty generals here have won the day, 

The grey-coats fast are fleeing from the fray 

And he, but twelve miles in the rear, besought 

By ours, to press this conquest dearly bought 

Replies: " We'll let that little matter rest; 

I judge it's but a skirmish, at the best," 

Thus, calling off his forces, thousands strong 

He seems to aim the struggle to prolong. 

When just within the portals of success, 

When Richmond trembles lest we onward press 

Upon the capital of southern power, 

The trusted leader fails us at this hour. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BEFORE 
RICHMOND. 

M'CLELLAN with his army camping near, 
Inactive loitered with a needless fear 
While stormy battles far away were waged 
And his own men and captains inly raged 
At long delay: At last the chief declared 
That all might for a movement be prepared, 
To Secretary Stanton. then he sent 
The message that on action he was bent; 
That now on Richmond he was closing in. 
Still moved he not nor dared to seek to win 
But with the flower of all our forces there, 
Besought of Lincoln others to prepare, 
Who losing patience telegraphed at length, 
That Richmond must be taken, or the strength 
Of all the army must be brought to close 
The approaches about Washington from foes. 
The southrons laughing at our weak delay, 
Determined now their power to display. 
Near Seven Pines where Casey's bulwarks stood, 
They boldly issued from the neighboring wood. 
Our watchful leader called his force to arms, 
No foe the vigilant and martial harms, 
We, with a shout of triumph made attack 
And to the sheltering forest drove them back, 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Yet on they came with still increasing power, 

But God was with us in that trying hour: 

Six regiments appear, to aid our side 

Yet these were backward swept by battle's tide. 

Still more when Heintzelman sent Kearney out, 

And Berry, Peck, and Jameson wheeled about. 

Then raged the fight when Longstreet, Smith and Hill 

With Johnston charged upon us with a will, 

Yet aid again we sought and Sumner came 

Wise leader, well deserving greater fame; 

While waiting on the river's further side, 

He wisely built a bridge to cross the tide; 

Just when our shattered troops were giving way 

His men came pouring o'er to save the day. 

From twenty guns our canister began 

To rake our ranks where terror swiftly ran. 

Then ours in turn oppressed with bending line 

Regained their strength, while Burns with power divine 

In trumpet tones cried: "Steady, steady, men!" 

And cheer on cheer rose from our forces then. 

The sunset reddened now this raging hell 

And still both armies held their footing well; 

At last a shell from ours hurled at the foe 

Burst in the midst and laid their Johnston low. 

The night o'er Chickahominy descends 

Through woods and swamps the dew of evening sends 

The fever and the chill to those who lie 

And wait in misery, and pray to die. 

The fight is o'er; the southern hosts have fled 

In care of foes they leave the unburied dead, 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Though thousands perish never known to fame 
Both ours and theirs, God loveth each the same; 
For Heaven must judge the hero by his zeal 
In any cause where hearts are taught to feel. 

****** 

Base fear assailed McClellan's heart again. 

'Attack on Richmond surely would be vain, 

Though scarcely five and twenty thousand they 

Who held our sixty-thousand men at bay. 

'Twere better far to flee to southern coast 

And rush into the arms of rebel host.' 

So reasoned he; his men obeyed commands 

They struck their tents and with reluctant hands, 

Cast to the flames the stores they could not bear. 

Beef, wine, and fruit and clothing packed with care 

From northern cities sent by rich and poor; 

And medicines and cordials to secure 

For sick and wounded, comfort in their need 

And bales of hay, and corn must go to feed 

The blackened smoking heaps that marked our flight, 

And gave confederate eyes untold delight, 

While down the James they saw our thousands flee 

The rebel regiments led on by Lee 

Attacked us sharply on the left and right 

The dead and wounded in this piteous flight 

Perforce must be abandoned to the foe 

Whose prison pens no mercy ever show. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



BATTLE OF MALVERN HILLS. 

ON Malvern Hills of England's early days, 
A poet dreamer roamed through^lonely ways, 
And as he pondered o'er the wrongs of life 
Against the rich his sad soul rose in strife. 
The falsity of vain religious men 
Alike he censured with a venomed pen. 
He saw the world in sin and darkness veiled 
And all the wrong he bitterly assailed; 
But Malvern Hills in old Virginia saw 
Another warfare waged with wrongs that gnaw 
The souls of men, who, loving liberty 
Would break the chains of millions yet to be. 
Our Army of Potomac gathered here 
One summer's prime: but many a fading year 
With buds and breath of spring and harvest's glow 
And rains and winter winds, with ceaseless flow 
Has o'er us swept since that fair rural scene 
Felt war's dread footsteps o'er her slopes of green. 
Yet as of old the James flows smoothly by; 
Her deep ravines and wooded banks rise high; 
And on the hills still smile the wide-spread fields, 
No wonder that the earth rich harvest yields; 
'Twas sown with fruitful seeds of heroes' lives, 
And watered with the blood of men with wives. 
Yet on those heights our warriors won the day 
And kept Lee's oft returning force at bay. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



At eve dismayed they fled to swamp and glen, 
But where was he, the leader of our men ? 
Upon a gun-boat far from fight removed 
How helpless in the hour of need he proved! 
The battle o'er he still bade ours retreat 
And sent again for further aid to meet 
Our vanquished foe that now, from hour to hour 
Expected Richmond's fall beneath our power. 
Full forty-thousand of our boys in blue 
Had perished in their weary marches through 
The swamps and forests by Virginia's streams 
Yet ninety-thousand, hope of all our dreams 
Of conquest, still remained to save our cause, 
Yet still their loitering general bade them pause. 
The southerners, grown bold at our defeat 
Declared that soon the presidential seat 
At Washington would hold their chief supreme 
O'er all this land; that every state would teem 
With myriad of souls to do his will. 
Throughout their camps was heard the bugle shrill 
With summons joyous, echoing far and wide, 
Along the Shenandoah's mountain side 
And down to Rappahannock's winding shore 
And where Potomac's waters widen o'er 
And through Virginia's swamps where sluggish lie 
Black pools, forever shut from sun and sky. 
They heard its music, north and south alike, 
And both arose with well-armed hosts to strike 
A blow for Washington our seat of power, 
And northern cities trembled in that hour. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Around our nation's capital there lay 

But twenty-thousand men to hold at bay 

The southern hoards that swarmed from far and near. 

Then General Pope a man who knew not fear, 

Was called to lead our soldiers to the fight. 

His scanty force at last sought hopeless flight 

In four fierce battles: first came Cedar Mount 

Then bloody Groveton where both forces count 

Full seven-thousand slain; and then Bull Run 

A second time saw grievous mischief done 

To ours, and lastly Chantilly where died 

The gallant Kearney, praised by either side. 

For Lee, the rebel general, loved him so 

He bade his soldiers take the fallen foe 

And bear him tenderly to union line. 

Such bravery as his must ever shine 

Adown the years and wake the love of all. 

Discouraged Pope thus saw his leaders fall 

And slow McClellan came not to his aid, 

And Porter oft commanded ne'er obeyed. 

No wonder 'gainst such odds our leader failed 

No wonder that our capital then quailed 

When Lincoln called six-hundred-thousand more 

To drive the wolves that howled around his door. 



BOOK VII. 



BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 

5HPWAS early in September, sixty-two, 

1 When 14 Stonewall " Jackson led his forces through 
The smiling valley of the Shenandoah. 
Above him General Walker marshalled more; 
All Loudon Heights the southrons strove to fill, 
And northward other aids held every hill; 
And ours so few on Bolivar kept guard 
O'er Harper's Ferry, struggling to retard 
The foe that menaced it and nearer drew, 
Our weakness and their strength how well they knew! 
The timid Miles who led our garrison, 
Surrendered when the fight had scarce begun. 
Our enemy saw not his flag of truce, 
Or heeded not; for storms of war let loose 
Upon our men, already driven down, 
Their helpless cries for mercy seemed to drown. 
And when the smoke of war had cleared away 
Our Captain Miles in death's surrender lay. 
Two thousand union men were captured there 
And Harper's Ferry was the victors' share. 
Elated with success they northward drew, 
To where the Antietam, winding through 
Its pleasant fields of maize and darkling groves 
Seems lost in its own loveliness, and roves 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



With loitering pace, and pauses ere it brings 

To broad Potomac all its wealth of springs. 

This winsome vale how soon Death's pen shall blot! 

Why should he write his name o'er such a spot 

Where Nature smiles and bids us be at peace; 

Where thoughtful wanderers seek a sweet release 

From all the jarring discords of the earth ? 

Upon the desert where the soil gives birth 

To naught of beauty, here perchance might lie 

On barren sands the bones of those who die 

For wrong or right, and who shall judge the cause ? 

None but the maker of all nature's laws. 

In heavenly spots should e'er our glad eyes fall 

On whitening bones or war's death dealing ball ? 

If battle still must rage could fate not place 

The scene where none may Nature's works deface ? 

Upon the western borders of the stream 

The whole Confederate army, it would seem 

Had burst forth from the soil: how fair they stood; 

The serried ranks of Longstreet, Hill and Hood! 

Behind them rising slopes and far below 

The Antietam crept with noiseless flow. 

And ours, advancing from the other side 

Marched o'er the bridge and ranged battalions wide 

With Hooker, Ricketts, Meade and Doubleday 

Upon the right to open on the grey, 

Who struggled long but yielded when night fell, 

Our fate and theirs to-morrow's sun would tell. 

Again at trumpet's call and roll of drum 

Our ranks against the southern lines had come; 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



When Meade met Jackson, rushing from the wood, 

Just re-enforced with all the troops of Hood, 

And fearful was the fight; the trampled grain 

Ne'er rose again when drenched with bloody rain. 

Advancing to our aid brave Mansfield fell 

And Hooker, all too bold, was maimed as well. 

They bore twice-wounded Sedgwick from the field 

And still hard-pressed the grey coats never yield. 

Thrice backward pushed, our foes return again, 

How valiant they, our rebel countrymen! 

Hill, twice two thousand coming to his aid, 

Against our left a desperate sally made; 

Our "Fighting Fifth," the stout New Hampshire band 

Against them rushed, and struggled for the stand 

Upon the ridge. They won and swept away 

With heavy loss the Carolinas grey. 

Upon our left, across the stream advanced 

Our Burnside, bound with speed howe'er it chanced, 

To cross the lower bridge and backward force 

The southern troops that northward held their course. 

And four times back repulsed he led them o'er, 

New York's strong arms and Pennsylvania's corps; 

To right and left our wearied ones could see 

Retreating in disgrace, the force of Lee. 

Another morning dawned, and troops to aid 

Our army came, yet still McClellan staid; 

He dared not face Lee's army camping near. 

And paused again, oppressed with needless fear. 

The foe escaped, left ruin in their track, 

While to their southern strongholds moving back. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



At last, all patience lost with dallying long 
Our nation angered woke to protest strong; 
Spurred Lincoln to remove the sacred trust. 
And humble our proud general to the dust. 
And Burnside chosen now must bear the weight, 
And lead our thousands on to save the state. 
But base conspiracy arose in camp, 
Enough the fire of any chief to damp, 
His officers begrudged to Burnside power, 
Or feared his reckless daring at the hour 
When he would force them, spite of fearful loss 
At Fredericksburg to lead their troops across 
The Rappahannock. He forsooth could see 
Approach to Richmond crowned with victory. 
But news of his campaign had quickly blown. 
And treacherous spies to Lee soon made it known. 
So valiant Burnside, ne'er a prey to fear 
Was conquered by the men he held most dear; 
And sadly yielding by harsh fate oppressed 
On martial Hooker saw the honors rest. 



BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. 
LONG the heights of Fredericksburg one day 



21 Lee's army, watches ours from far away; 
At last grown bold, descending from the crest 
And filing through the road that turns to west 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



And Chancellorsville, they meet a corps of ours 

In conflict sharp. We yield to greater powers. 

The enemy still hold the woods and hills, 

And coming night our path with danger fills. 

But dawning day the dreaded fight renews; 

First Birney at our front, attacks, pursues 

The flying foe; but woe to ours has come 

For scarcely warned by random bullets' hum 

Our right is overwhelmed by sudden raid 

Of " Stonewall " Jackson's troops that from the shade 

Of sheltering woods in untold numbers burst, 

All unprepared our leaders dread the worst, 

For driven down the road, a frenzied rout 

No earthly power can turn our men about; 

These through the union army terror spread; 

Then Sickles at the front who would have led 

A charge against another troop of grey 

Meets Pleasanton returning from the fray. 

The rushing flood of fugitives sweeps by 

Yet Pleasanton though weak, will never fly. 

Quick turning to his Major Keenan near, 

" ' Tis yours, my man, to face the rebels here." 

With smile of courage comes the brave reply: 

4< I'm ready! Man has only once to die." 

Five hundred facing " Stonewall " Jackson's might, 

Must sink like grain beneath a storm of night. 

The fearless Keenan falls a bleeding prey, 

Yet his the hand that for the time could stay 

That onset fierce; while Pleasanton regains 

With Sickles' aid, control of guiding reins. 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Among obscuring trees, as darkness falls 
The treacherous foe displays our flag and calls 
With friendly shout: "Come, join us 'gainst the 
We need your help ; they've caught us in a web!' 
Uncertain we advance when hostile shot, 
Poured on our ranks reveal their spiteful plot, 
And from our guns we send a grim reply. 
But venturous " Stonewall " Jackson passing by 
Before his batteries casting death around, 
Through luckless daring falls with many a wounc 
What bitter anguish bears this warrior then 
When dying by the shots of his own men! 
In onset fierce our forces blindly swarm 
Right o'er the hapless hero's helpless form ; 
Nor dream that he their chief has fallen there. 
When we in turn a forced retreat must bear 
They strive to snatch their leader from the field 
To some secure retreat nor will they yield 
Their precious burden, though one bearer falls 
Beneath the sweeping tempest of our balls. 
The helpless General falling bruised anew 
At last is dragged unheeding from our view. 
In all the war no man saw fiercer strife 
Than Jackson when he yielded up his life; 
A soldier worthy of all time was he, 
And none more noble filled the ranks of Lee. 
But Pleasanton and Sickles hold their ground 
Still hemmed by foes when darkness falls around 
Return of day sees ours with hope advance ; 
On every side the grey coats' bayonets glance. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



77 



Now recklessly on Sickles' corps they rush ; 
Our forty guns blaze forth their power to crush, 
And fearful carnage reigns and hundreds fall ; 
With oaths and shrieks on hell and heaven they call. 
Then Sickles, seeing ammunition fail 
Must seek for aid or nothing will avail 
To save the day ; his messenger with speed 
To Hooker brings the news of Sickles' need. 
Stretched on the ground he finds our helpless chief 
By cannon's shock unconcious ; no relief 
Can come to ours, nor are the Rebels stayed ; 
Our chance is lost, thus grievously delayed. 
With bayonets only, Sickles' men fight well. 
Five times they charge, and from that fiery hell 
They bear eight flags, the trophies of their might, 
Ere all the union army turn in flight. 



GUERRILLA WARFARE— SEIGE OF CORINTH. 

BUT all this time what other armies are, 
In southern lands, and to the west afar 
Where flow the Ohio and the Cumberland ? 
How turns the tide where hostile forces stand ? 
Kentucky is at strife and Tennessee ; 
From peaceful homes the unionists must flee 
At sudden inroads of guerrilla bands, 
Fierce outlaw warriors, heeding no commands 



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COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Save those of chief, who though the southern cause 

He oft espouses, still regards no laws, 

But plunders grievously the country-side, 

And armies from the north are all defied. 

These wandering hoards, to mountain and ravine. 

Soon disappear, and then again are seen, 

When rushing forth in safety for attack, 

Where blows are aimed at some defenceless back. 

So Grant near Jackson camps and lies in wait, 

While Rosecrans, the active holds the gate 

Between the south and north at Corinth's walls 

And promptly answers Buell's earnest calls 

For aid in many a struggle lost and won. 

To Buell have we ever justice done ? 

For his a task perplexing at the best 

By Bragg's and Smith's trained armies oft oppressed 

To win his way through state disorganized. 

Van Dorn and Price, our failing powers despised, 

Win Iuka, and to Corinth force their way, 

But Rosecrans is there to hold at bay 

Confederate arms with many a victory flushed, 

And Corinth, ere the cries of death are hushed, 

From former siege, again sees thousands die 

And e'en the southern flag victorious, fly 

Above her batteries, but scarce it waves 

When our returning army Corinth saves. 

Brave Texan Rogers still with flag in hand 

Our shot hurls from the heights and in the sand 

The fallen hero grasps in fingers cold 

His flag and sword more dear than life to hold. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 

Fort Robinett soon yields to our attack, 

Though fierce the siege that drives the rebels back. 

These struggles ended, praise through all the north 

Is poured on Rosecrans, and he henceforth 

Shall grace a greater army in the field ; 

To him must Buell all his honors yield. 

His Army of Ohio, changed in name 

To Army of the Cumberland, its fame 

Shall rise, with many a conquest nobly won 

With Rosecrans on whom smiles Fortune's sun. 

****** 

In far off Tennessee's deep forest stood 

A quiet village; through the encircling wood 

Bragg's armies waited Nashville to besiege ; 

And Bragg their chief at rest received his liege 

Jeff Davis, who made merry with his host, 

And many a southern officer in toast 

Drank health to distant friends they longed to see, 

And nuptials added their festivity. 

For handsome Morgan, famed guerrilla chief 

From camp and combat seeking short relief, 

Here plighted troth to one he long had wooed 

And Polk their bishop-general they sued 

To tie the knot. Across the floor was spread 

Our stars and stripes, that all the guests might tread 

Upon that flag, for whose dear sake have died 

A century's heroes of a nation wide. 

Exulting now, what trembling shall seize 

The revellers absorbed in scenes like these! 



So 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



No longer Buell leads Ohio's arms, 

Soon Rosecrans will startle with alarms. 

How terrible the fight of coming days! 

On wintry fields lie dead the blues and greys 

'Mid Murfreesboro's woods and scattered rocks 

Where Hazen's brave brigade long stood the shocks 

Of fierce attack, with thirteen hundred men, 

Where screeching balls tore through the wood and glen, 

And horsemen fell, and mingled with the cries 

Of agony and death, would oft arise 

Hoarse cheers of victory now here now there, 

While dying lips sent up the whispered prayer, 

That God would succor loved ones far away, 

And bring their spirits near to those who pray, 

And pleadings that the union still might stand 

When they, her martyrs roamed the better land. 

We turned at last Bragg's overweening host, 

But thousands dead how vain for us the boast! 

At what a cost were conquests gained like this ? 

Ask countless firesides that sadly miss 

The dear ones buried in those nameless tombs 

Where midst the headstone rows, the wild-flower blooms 

And numbers only mark oblivion. 

In graveyards where Time's victories are won. 



BOOK VIII. 



THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 



IN Washington unending the debate 
Among the troubled rulers of the state. 
Contending factions ceased not to assail 
The patient Lincoln, never known to fail 
When once a doubtful duty seemed assured. 
Now, some maintained that peace could be procured 
By issuing edict to release the slaves 
Nor pay their price to masters who like knaves 
Broke every bond of union to secure 
A slavery forever to endure. 
And Lincoln's heart with love for man awake, 
Strove earnestly a lasting peace to make 
By granting each possessor ample fee 
That negro bondmen ransomed might be free. 
Then rose a storm of curses, loud and long 
From all the House and Senate who were strong 
Through southern influence by money bought; 
But northern patriots again besought 
Our persecuted President to free 
For Christ's dear sake and for humanity 
The millions still in ignorance and pain. 
When Lincoln's offer to the South proved vain 



82 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



The Proclamation which immortal made 

The man that writ it, bravely nobly bade 

The slave take freedom, sanctioned by our laws, 

Assured at last of arms to help his cause. 

The deed is done; the hand has dropped the pen; 

The groveling rise from tortured beasts to men. 

Oh, what glad sounds from hut and cabin rise! 

'Tis Israel mingling tears with joyous cries; 

And hand clasps hand and loving arms entwine. 

List to their words: " No longer, chillen mine 

Shall you be sold to fill our marse's purse/' 

" My wife shall not be slave or something worse." 

" When we go north no man shall drive us back 

With baying blood-hounds following our track." 



THE CORSAIRS. 

MEANTIME on sea new terrors threaten ours 
Deserted in their need by foreign powers; 
For England secretly to aid the cause 
Of the confederate south, against the laws 
Of promised friendship and neutrality 
Builds rebel gun-boats to infest the sea. 
The Florida, manned by her corsair crew 
Along our coast each day brings dangers new; 
And woe to merchantmen with treasured store 
For burned or plundered, few can reach the shore. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



One fatal day the pirate ship lies still, 

Secure, she thinks in harbor of Brazil, 

When our Wachusett who had sought her long 

Attacks her side well armed with breastplate strong, 

Her captain and her crew perchance ashore 

She yields and ours shall dread her name no more. 

Submissive bound by hawsers to our ship, 

She's borne away and while from port we slip 

The random shots around us harmless fall. 

Though foes pursue our speed can distance all. 

At last to Hampton Roads we bear the prize; 

Beneath the waters there a wreck she lies. 

And Alabama of their pirate fleet 

The worst of all, is doomed like fate to meet, 

Our Kearsarge, long alert, makes swift advance, 

From Flushing to a sheltered port of France 

Where close by Cherbourg snug the rover lies. 

On sea our ships three score have been her prize. 

Now circling seven times round each nearer runs 

And shots come pouring from the deep-mouthed gun 

For one terrific hour these beasts contend; 

The Alabama crippled nears her end; 

Yet roars Kearsarge unwearied with the fray; 

Her bosom wrapped in hanging chains that stay 

The screaming globes of iron, foes may hurl; 

The hostile waters round her rival swirl; 

Now scarce her wounded breast can keep afloat; 

A dying gurgle issues from her throat: 

And down she sinks in eddying vortex deep; 

Then smooth again the grave where she must sleep. 



8 4 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



How dark the days that all the northland knew 

When through the south her victories were few. 

Our soldiers swept away by battle's tide 

Left shattered ranks that soon must be supplied 

By volunteers with patriotic zeal 

To rouse the courage that all heroes feel. 

The best had gone and from those firesides 

Where love for father, husband, son abides 

Went up the mourning in the lonely days 

When many censured, few were found to praise 

Our anxious Lincoln, bent with ceaseless care, 

Who summoned now perforce our arms to bear 

New conscripts, chosen by the drafting laws 

From every city bound to aid our cause. 

Then cries tumultuous sounded thro* the streets, 

From New York City's slums and dark retreats 

Arose the mob by thousands to oppose 

The drafting of more men to meet our foes. 

Assailing officers with stick and stone, 

They burned the barracks; this offence alone 

Of aiding war, deserved their tireless hate; 

The negroes too must bear an unjust fate: 

This cursed war was all to aid their cause 

And unprotected now by helpless laws 

Pursued through streets the trembling victims fled; 

Men, women, children, murdered; e'en the dead 

The ruthless mob would strip of clothes and hang 

On gallows-tree, while ribald songs they sang. 

And oft the influential and the rich, 

Encouraged these, the refuse of the ditch 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



To war against the Union and the Blacks. 

The noisy demagogue no rabble lacks 

To listen to tirades against our cause 

And ever and again the hoarse applause 

Roared through the streets where malcontents were met. 

Valandigham the gathered mob beset 

Like old Thersites in Homeric tale 

And o'er the doubtful gatherings would prevail 

By sharp revilings of our nation's chief. 

Like Greek Ulysses, Burnside brought relief 

And banished from Ohio and the north 

That reckless babbler whom vain pride brought forth, 

Whereat 'mong northern democrats were heard 

Threats, cries of "Shame! " and many a taunting word: 

" Where now our boasted liberty of speech, 

When each free tongue some tyrant dares impeach! " 

Yet bears our chief with patience all the blame, 

With voiceless lips repeats: " In Freedom's name! " 



SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. 

" T ET Vicksburg first be taken!" Grant proclaims 

Lrf With forces at the north and south he aims 
To cut the city's batteries from supplies 
And by a deep canal below he tries 
To lead the Mississippi from its course, 
And thus the city unsupplied to force, 



86 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



By famine threatened, to our arms to yield. 

The Father of the Waters here can wield 

A greater power than man's weak hands essay, 

Still o'er his ancient bed he holds his way. 

Our gunboats then by many a devious creek 

Through deep lagoons and swamps an outlet seek 

From north to south, that thus we may unite 

Our forces held apart by Vicksburg's height. 

The Indianola, stealing on her way 

Has almost reached the longed for Lower Bay, 

When suddenly a rebel ram appears; 

With threatening beak our vessel's side she nears. 

Huge wound she makes and in the waters pour, 

Our foemen seize their prey, the strife is o'er. 

They busily the captured craft repair 

When by a trick we frustrate all their care. 

Our Admiral Porter fits a useless boat 

In semblance of a ram and sets afloat 

This strange device, unmanned upon the stream, 

With barrels piled that like a smoke-stack seem. 

To all their fleet the frightened rebels send 

And bid them shun our ram. Their schemes thus end; 

To save the Indianola from attack 

They burst her hull; she sinks in war-clouds black. 

Too late they find themselves to fraud a prey, 

And ours at last rejoice at their dismay. 

But Vicksburg still repels attacks of ours, 

She holds the key wherewith the southern powers 

Keep locked the door of access to our force. 

The mighty river in its winding course 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Still guards the western side and on the north 

Arise high cliffs with narrow passes forth; 

To eastward lies a hostile land in arms, 

But yet our force gives Davis new alarms; 

For Mississippi is his native state, 

And struggling to protect it from the fate 

Of pillage by the northern raider's hand 

He sends new guards of troops to save the land. 

But on the river south of Vicksburg lies 

The city Baton Rouge, beyond it rise 

The spires of New Orleans and both are held 

By union troops with numbers daily swelled. 

Now Banks and Farragut hold New Orleans, 

In place of Butler called to other scenes. 

So Banks sends north along the western side, 

Of Mississippi, where the stream grows wide 

Full many a force to conquer all the land, 

Through regions wild where swampy forests stand. 

Dark grows the cypress and the Spanish moss 

Has hung its heavy curtains far across; 

All day great reptiles on the fallen trees 

Sleep undisturbed. Scarce wakes an idle breeze 

In close and steamy air of reeking fen; 

Yet through the marsh of winding streams our men 

With never failing courage urge their way, 

While more across the river win the day 

In Grierson's raid through Mississippi state, 

O'er all the land they fall with crushing weight, 

Burn bridges, tear up rails and conquer foes, 

Dismayed the rebels flee where Grierson goes. 



88 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Then Grant and Sherman stand not idly by, 
They haste to Jackson City — whence must fly 
Her southern garrison; above her walls 
Soon floats the union flag, then loud the calls 
Of " Onward! " from our boys who long to close 
The doors of Vicksburg from the fleeing foes. 
But Pemberton still holds the lofty town 
With food for sixty days sees not the frown 
Of Famine far away, though foes surround. 
But steadfast Grant encamps within the sound 
Of musket shot, and posts McPherson here 
McClernand to the left and Sherman near. 
For five and forty days along the height 
Of battery and fort resounds the fight. 
Oh, who can tell the terrors of those days, 
When women sought retreat in gloomy ways 
Dug through the hillsides of the fated town 
And there in hidden caves sat trembling down 
And gathering their children wept and prayed 
That war with all the miseries that it made 
Might soon be o'er, but ever threatening boomed 
The cannon's dread reply, and o'er them loomed 
The lurid lights that made the night a dread 
And now they seem to hear the muffled tread 
Of Grant's victorious army in their streets 
And shuddering within their dark retreats 
They long to die, and still the bursting shell 
Sounds through the sweet June air with fatal knell 
To all their fondly cherished southern schemes. 
The whistling minie-ball, the lurid gleams 



COLUMBIA REt>£EMEt>. 



From port-holes of the gun-boats near the shore 

Proclaim the city's ruin o'er and o'er. 

And Pemberton's beleaguered garrison 

Still struggle on from rise to set of sun, 

And aid from Johnston's distant troops implore 

Though his, a crippled force, can aid no more. 

Now Hunger comes apace with evil eye. 

The men must eat of vermin flesh or die, 

To each, a less allowance daily falls 

Yet still increasing labor on him calls. 

Oft back repulsed still Grant again returns, 

From him each man a hardier courage learns. 

They rise above their earthworks then from view 

They vanish just when foes would pierce them throu 

Around the city batteries far and near 

The negro's bravely fighting ranks appear. 

What courage shows the slave but just set free! 

Against his former masters rushes he 

With ebon face, but eyes of blazing fire 

To avenge the long borne wrongs of son and sire. 

So close their combat in the fearful strife 

That each at bayonet point contends for life 

And both transfixed fall face to face to die; 

The slave and master there as equals lie. 

But Pemberton within the walls, at last 

Despairs at sight of all his bastions cast 

To earth. In vain their care; our mines had sought 

The deep foundation ; soon by powder caught 

Huge masses hurled aloft show gaping rents, 

And in our soldiers rush at all the vents, 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



A flag of truce at length our men discry, 

And soon our messengers unarmed reply. 

" Surrender — unconditional! " from Grant. 

What other terms could honest victor want ? 

Yet generous even to a fellow foe, 

Upon parole he bids the prisoners go, 

While our rejoicing troops possess the town 

And through the streets re-echoes up and down: 

" We'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again, 

Shouting the battle cry of freedom 
Well rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain, 

Shouting the battle cry of freedom! " 
Oh, there were homes within the north that heard; 
The hillsides east and west caught every word ; 
And those were times that stirred the nation's heart 
With love of heroes who had done their part ; 
And Grant won laurels that will never fade 
But others won them who are lowly laid 
Where grasses wave beneath the winds that sigh 
A requiem for the brave who nameless die. 



BOOK IX. 



BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 

WHILE Vicksburg still was girded for the fight 
The North and South beheld another sight 
Of direful carnage, and our nation shook ; 
The old world monarchs gazed with anxious look, 
They scarcely knew in such a doubtful strife 
Which cause to aid, both fought so well for life. 
The States were dark with shadow of the sword ; 
At Gettysburg when all the southern hoard 
Came pouring down upon our northern land 
Then fell that sword, that two long years had spanned 
The arch of heaven, and friends and foes alike 
Defenceless felt the keen-edged weapon strike. 
The South inured to war within her bounds 
Like Hydra quickly healed her many wounds ; 
How just their cause might seem in modern days, 
To seek defence against the power that lays 
Its hand upon the source of revenue ; 
To slaves the wealth of all the south was due, 
For who in cotton-fields beneath the sun 
Or mid the sugar-cane till day was done 
Could toil and sweat 'neath golden burdens borne 
To fill the treasure-house, but those who mourn 
Beneath the yoke of slavery that brings 
To all the south the best of earthly things? 



9 2 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



What trembling seized the north in 'sixty-three 

When eighty-thousand, led by Robert Lee 

From old Virginia marched in dread array 

Through Maryland's green fields that fair June day, 

To sweep the tide of war across the land 

And in our northern cities fearless stand. 

Beneath the southern flag their leader rode, 

And strong he was and nobly bore the load 

Of ceaseless care that seemed his portion now, 

And like a knight of old with thoughtful brow 

He looked so wise and grave and dignified 

That all his soldiers spoke of him with pride. 

This chevalier mistaken in his cause 

Was still the chevalier to make men pause; 

For through his plain attire a courtly grace 

Shone over all and lit his serious face. 

Past Washington and north his army filed, 

Along the western slopes and woodlands wild. 

Toward Pennsylvania's Capitol they turned 

Their course: Meantime our trusty Hooker learned 

What dangers new assailed the northern soil 

And led Potomac's army on to foil 

Their daring blows struck at a union state, 

No rest he knew nor zeal would he abate 

Till facing Lee on Rappahannock's stream 

He saw across the flood their bayonets gleam. 

Here back and forth for weeks both armies moved 

Now Lee, now Hooker, well trained generals, proved 

The skill and weakness of his foe's finesse, 

As two contending in a game of chess 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



By shrewd manoeuvers sweep about the board; 

Both equal matched can no false move afford, 

And now when one oppressed seems brought to bay 

By some unlooked-for turn he saves the day, 

Lee put his trust in Longstreet and in Hill 

And Ewall fierce who once was seen to fill 

A hero's place at seige of Mexico; 

But that had happened many a year ago, 

And then he fought for union and the right, 

Now like his General, blinded was his sight. 

And Lee placed Pendleton in full control 

Of his artillery, to divide the whole 

Among the army as to him seemed best 

For present service, or reserved to rest. 

And ours had Hancock, Doubleday and Meade, 

And Reynolds, Sickles, Vincent, Zook and Weed 

With many another brave and strong in fight; 

Such aids as these made Hooker's burdens light. 

At Gettysburg both forces met at last; 

Around the little village thousands passed 

From hill and vale and from the distant wood 

Along the ridge where rebel soldiers stood. 

From Little Round Top's summit spreading wide 

That lovely rural scene shall still abide 

Though blotted for a season by the strife 

That dries the fountains of the nation's life. 

A scene like Bannockburn from castle walls 

Where musing o'er the past the memory calls 

From verdant sod and from the loitering stream 

The warriors of old, whose helmets gleam, 



94 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Whose spear points bristle as they onward rush 
To clash of war — and then, there comes the hush 
Of night, and death, and then life springs anew 
When nature covers war and death from view; 
And yet again polluting that sweet scene 
Man sees it still renewed as it has been; 
And though of yore that ancient battlefield 
So oft has witnessed Scotland's forces yield, 
Still fair the spot as when the breath of morn 
First kissed the hills, ere man to strife was born. 
And so at Gettysburg. Still glides the stream 
Where orchards bend and waving wheatfields teem 
With golden promise of man's greatest need; 
But this the eyes of soldiers little heed. 
'Twas on the ridge where battle was begun, 
Here ours repulsed, the South had fairly won. 
Our Buford struggled on till Reynolds came 
To bring relief and lead his troops to fame, 
While looking back, to urge the moving host 
He minded not the dangers of his post; 
A rebel shot pierced through the rider's brain, 
The union struggles on the ridge were vain; 
The faithful steed felt his dead master fall 
And raised a human cry that thrilled us all. 
What strife arose upon that fatal spot! 
Our Paul lost both his eyes by cruel shot 
And Huidekoper's arm was torn away 
Yet for the moment stood the foe at bay. 
So fast men fell that heaped up corpses made 
A bulwark, that the rebels' force delayed. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



When rents were torn through ours by cannon's blast 

The living pressing onward filled them fast. 

Alas! alas! it seemed the southern hoard 

Had all upon our single squadron poured; 

At last our mangled remnant turned away, 

Not once their fleeing footsteps could they stay 

Till through the town they reached a sheltered hill 

Where spreads a country graveyard quaint and still. 

There rest the worn and weary with the dead, 

What welcome pillow for the soldier's head 

Those mounds of green that mark the resting-place 

Of quiet unknown folk of rural race! 

To us the day is lost, the fight is done, 

Among the hills low sinks the summer sun 

And grey-robed Twilight gliding o'er the scene, 

Comes like a gentle nun where strife has been 

With cooling palms to touch the dying brow, 

To listen at the trembling lips that now 

Must utter their last message and a prayer 

And then with one long sigh, sleep peaceful there. 

A second dawn and Meade our troops delays 

And wonders why the army of the Greys 

Inactive wait. He sees them southward move 

The strength of ours upon the left to prove. 

Here ours are weak by Little Round Top's hill 

Which Hood with sudden onset strives to fill; 

But we with speed in three divisions fly 

To reach the selfsame spot and stationed high 

Among the rocks and close-grown stunted trees 

With furious assault we burst on these 



9 6 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Who deemed themselves victorious, now forced back, 

But on they sweep again to the attack. 

So close the combat, guns unloaded grasped 

Are raised as clubs, the muzzles tightly clasped, 

Our cannon from above hurl down below 

A deadly shower upon the struggling foe. 

Around us darkly lowers the battle cloud, 

And roars and shrieks and shouts rise long and loud! 

Our brave O'Rourk and Vincent fallen lie, 

But Hood is staggering, wounded in the thigh, 

Ours hold the height and far below them rage 

New forces, struggling ours to engage. 

Across Plum Run we hold the Devil's Den; 

Forbidding slopes protect that darksome glen, 

Yet here the Greys are forcing our retreat 

But no: reserves of ours with footsteps fleet 

Support us just in time to save the day. 

Here Meagher's forces kneel as if to pray; 

Their warrior priest absolves each trusting soul, 

They rise inspired and sweep without control 

Upon our foes who yield like melting snow. 

The priest and soldier both have struck the blow. 

Again on Little Round Top fires awake; 

Here Laws attempts the union lines to break. 

Weed, faithful falls, still at our battery's side; 

Then Hazlett, compassed by the battle's tide, 

Forgetful of himself bends o'er his friend 

To hear the message that he longs to send 

To loved ones at the north. A fatal ball 

Brings death to him; the rebel sees him fall 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



97 



Upon the prostrate body of his chief; 

Death takes them both and spares the comrade's grief. 

Then fiery Barksdale, leader of the Greys 

Still struggles on through tangled corpse-strewn ways, 

But back we hurl his band, their leader slain 

The hero dead must in our ranks remain. 

Vain, vain their onset, sixteen-hundred men 

With Wilcox, fiercely rushing from the glen 

In smoke and tumult, meet our strongest force 

Who slay five-hundred, driving from their course 

The mutilated fragments of their band. 

Across the vale where union troops still stand 

Upon the crest of Cemetery Hill 

They see the foe advancing swift and still 

Beneath the shadow of a wooded height 

As sunset gilds their arms with mellow light. 

That dread brigade, by ours unconquered yet 

With many an aiding troop around them set, 

Louisiana's Tigers crouch to spring, 

Upon our men their dauntless force they fling. 

But ours at batteries watching mow them down. 

Still on they move; success must surely crown; 

For daring more sublime no war has known, 

Their path upon the hill with dead is sown, 

One battery yields: then ours about them close; 

Around the Tigers shuts a cage of foes! 

A struggle for their silken standard borne 

By one with flashing eye and garments torn! 

A ragged stone is hurled at capless head 

And from the fingers of the hero dead 



9 8 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Is snatched the guidon that our soldiers claim — 

The Tigers perish with unsullied fame. 

As falls the darkness friend contends with friend, 

Another day of bloody strife must end. 

Adown the steep the grey-coats melt away, 

Ours sink to rest and little then care they 

If corpse or sod supports the weary head 

Or if the morrow finds them with the dead. 

The third sun rising o'er the field of strife, 

Must see our struggle end in death or life. 

Both leaders fearful, pause when they behold 

The numbers of the dead, those numbers told 

Years afterward, the listeners to the tale 

Will scarce believe; not long did fear prevail 

With ours, though twenty thousand soldiers lay 

Unburied at the dawn of that last day. 

One more terrific scene and all is o'er; 

Our left and right Lee's force attack no more. 

No fear of foe had ever brought recoil 

To their reserves of Old Virginia's soil. 

These stand against our center with the aid 

Of all the rest on either side displayed. 

A moment dread: a death-like calm prevails; 

At last their battery 'gainst our ramparts hails 

An iron storm; we answer: east and west 

The fearful tempest sweeps from crest to crest. 

The shot and shell shriek, whistle, moan, and hiss 

No mortal e'er saw conflict dire as this, 

And cries of pain and horror and despair 

'Mid din of war rise thro' the sulphurous air.' 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



99 



The curse of wounded men, the avenging oath 

Of those who pay back blows, though hurt still loath 

To yield to death, when with despairing yell 

They sink amid this demon-raging hell. 

There comes a lull; the storm at last seems o'er: 

Can mortal men endure one onset more ? 

Like tidal wave that comes, a moving wall 

To break and far beneath it bury all, 

From yonder copse, in perfect line appear 

The southern infantry, our only fear; 

The Blues with footing firm press on amain, 

Our batteries aid them, opening charge again 

To death the grey-coats rush, insanely brave 

No regimental lines in that great wave 

Of blinding battle e'er again appear: 

Commanders lose their charge, while far and near 

A mob of fiends deals death on every hand; 

Our Cushing's battery, a rebel band 

At length has reached: our captain bravely cries 

Though pierced with fatal wounds are both his thighs: 

"I'll give them one shot more before I go, 

Good-bye! " — then by the gun lies low 

The hero — while in answer Armisted 

Who has the southern troops so nobly led 

Cries, " Give them steel, my boys! " then instant falls — 

So die both youthful warriors, pierced by balls. 

Here stops the swelling tide of that great sea, 

And here the southern cause shall buried be. 

No braver were the storied knights of old 

Than these two heroes who in death lie cold; 



xoo 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED, 



Those men who rushed to crush us fell not back, 

For none survived that terrible attack. 

Oh South, with you we weep the faithful slain, 

And in our sorrow grow we friends again; 

One last brave struggle fills the gory field; 

Their strength is spent; Lee's force at last must yield. 



THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. 
5 HP WAS Independence Day when we rejoiced, 



1 And roaring cannon both our victories voiced. 
For Vicksburg and for Gettysburg just won; 
But on that day the weary flight begun, 
Let not our hearts forget in pity's cause; 
Midst shouts of triumph for a moment pause: 
Behold the scene: Our enemy's retreat — 
The wounded greys by slow and staggering feet, 
Borne o'er rough roads; when racked by agony 
They beg, beseech and pray to rest and die. 
No respite comes till through the vale has passed — 
The vale of death's dark shadow — e'en the last, 
While on them beats a storm of drenching rain 
And all their cries for mercy must be vain. 
Those thousands dead upon the field of strife 
With thousands more whom scarce the breath of life 
Yet stirs, the victors of the day must bear. 
The dead laid side by side in trenches there, 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



IOI 



The blue and grey are brothers once again 

Where victory and failure both are vain. 

In those rude earth-beds lay them with a sigh, 

That such a grave is theirs who nobly die. 

And fold the cape across the piteous face, 

Whose pains e'en death itself could not erase, 

And bless that humble tomb more sacred now 

Than sculpture-burdened grave where mourners bow. 



BOOK X. 



THE GUERRILLAS. 

STILL strives the South, our dagger in her breast; 
Her armies still sow terror through the west, 
And Morgan with his raiders here and there 
Along Ohio's banks with cunning care 
Eludes pursuit, though rustics bar the ways 
With fallen trees where pass the rebel greys. 
Our troops forever track their winding course, 
Upon a bluff when brought to bay perforce 
The hunted prey must fall beneath our hand; 
But Morgan slips away, he leaves his band 
And with a handful of his followers true 
Immured in thickest woods he keeps from view. 
The vigilant guerrilla, hemmed about 
In vain seeks every woodland pathway out; 
He falls within our net, secured in jail 
His silken locks close clipped, his features pale 
Like common felon shut within a cell 
No power the hardy outlaw yet can quell. 
Escaping prison walls at verge of night 
Eluding all our guards he slips from sight, 
In friendly Georgia free again he stands 
Thence speeds he on to Richmond; southern hands 
Give welcome, warm the praise of hero's deeds. 
Departing once again to meet the needs 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Of southern chivalry in Tennessee 
He perishes while fighting faithfully. 



ROSECRANS. THOMAS. BURNSIDE. 




UR Rosecrans 'gainst Bragg still holds the field. 



V-x In Tennessee and Georgia. Must he yield? 
At Chickamauga creek that fearful fight 
Ends only with the falling of the night 
When ours are beaten back in base retreat. 
At last our scattered forces gathering meet 
At Chattanooga's walls to hold the foe 
From northern lands where Bragg shall never go. 
And well may Rosecrans lament defeat 
When comes a message from the Nation's seat 
That bids him, failing in the hour of need, 
Place now in Thomas all the power to lead. 

* * * * * * * 

When Burnside from Potomac was relieved; 

Ohio's force he willingly received, 

And marching southward through Kentucky's hills 

All eastern Tennessee with joy he fills; 

For here the patriotic unionists, 

By foul conscription pressed within the lists 

Must serve in rebel ranks or lose their lives; 

Their homeless children and dishonored wives 

Must live in terror while the jail and rope 

Are constant menaces; at last bright hope 



104 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Rewards their long and tortured constancy, 

For now the rebel sympathizers flee, 

And Knoxville flings the stars and stripes on high 

O'er Burnside's welcome blue-coats marching by. 

Yet ours not long inactive stand on guard. 

For Longstreet from the south by marches hard 

Is soon upon us and in vigorous fight 

Besieges ours with valor, left and right: 

Now he is victor; now the palm is lost. 

A thousand men this strife is doomed to cos: 

The Union arms, ere Longstreet flies away 

To aid Virginia's forces brought to bay. 



BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. 



HEN Grant had won new honors for his deeds 



And down at Vickburg had destroyed the seeds 



Of rebel power that had our arms defied, 

Clothed with the chief command and ail the pride 

Of modest worth he led his trusty band 

To join the army of the Cumberland 

Where Thomas guarded Chattanooga round. 

Then through the mountains came the martial sound 

Of rebel hosts aroused at bugle call. 

Fair over Georgia's pine-clad ridges fall 

The sunbeams, gilding Lookout's rocky steep: 

Sweet wilderness, thy glens no more can keep 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



1°5 



Their sylvan secrets, guarded through the years, 

When wanton war with ruthless rage appears. 

Thy crests and ridges bristle now with steel, 

Thy peaceful soil the cannon's shock must feel; 

And strewn among the squirrel's haunts shall lie 

The torn and bleeding soldiers left to die. 

Here Bragg had placed his outposts while he viewed 

From towering hill, the battle oft renewed, 

But ours rush on in hosts the height to storm; 

Here Grant's and Fighting Hooker's forces form, 

And Thomas, of his army just made chief 

Soon to his struggling fellows brings relief. 

Bragg sees his trusted legions melt away, 

And o'er the hills he flees with wild dismay. 

His batteries deserted on the steep 

Fall prey to ours though Death is there to reap 

A harvest terrible, while fiercely break 

War's storms that all the mountain echoes wake. 



THE STORMING OF THE FORTS BY THE SEA. 
I \ 7HILE inland still is surging widespread war 



Y V Along the Atlantic seaboard scudding far 
Our gun-boats, watchful, guard the creeks and bays 
Where snug-rigged barks steal over watery ways 
To bear the treasures of the cotton field 
To foreign shores, and backward bring concealed 




io6 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



A wealth of foreign arms: the South prolong 

The civil war by foreign powers made strong. 

Upon a marshy islet of the bay 

Where broad Savannah's waters seaward stray 

Stood Fort Pulaski, in the rebels' hands 

While ours reared forts upon the neighoring sand 

And such a blast of shot and shell we sent 

That their strong walls were soon asunder rent, 

And our low-lying batteries unharmed 

Escaped the missiles of the foe alarmed. 

The harbor won we watched the landward side. 

Near Charleston too that still our arms defied 

We sank old ships to block the sea supplies, 

Undaunted still by England's angry cries: 

Of " Shame, for Yankees to destroy the port, 

You check our commerce and your ruin court!" 

One channel less for blockade-runners' stealth 

To us seemed harmless to our future wealth. 

McAllister upon Ogeechee reared 

A fortress strong; though oft our vessels neared 

The walls and stormed them fiercely day by day, 

Yet still with fruitless loss they steamed away. 

Their Nashville, haply resting by the wall 

Attacked by ours at last surrendered all: 

Her magazine exploded by a shell 

The scattered fragments o'er the waters fell. 

Yet all this din the fortress heeded not, 

Our foes derisive, bade us save our shot. 

Again our iron-clads within the bay 

Lay seige to rebel Charleston: o'er the way 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



107 



Fort Sumter once again must feel the rain 

Of hostile guns that now assault in vain. 

Their garrison stands fast where long ago 

Our gallant Anderson bore many a blow 

Ere yielding to that deadly cannonade. 

And now our nine strong ships are here arrayed, 

Those low- decked Mottiters conceal within 

More lurid scenes, sounds more terrific din 

Than Vulcan's fabled smithy ere could hold. 

Within each tower two cannons, huge of mould: 

Around them, smoke-begrimed the gunners move, 

Their breasts are bare, how strong those muscles prove 

For loads of powder o'er the pits they lean, 

Then half-ton balls they raise by strange machine. 

These down the cannon's hungry throat they pour 

Then open flies the port-hole and the roar 

As each huge globe with force ten-thousand tons 

Along its curving course with ruin runs — 

The flame-lit ports gleam like the glaring eyes 

Of couchant monster watching for its prize. 

With shot and shell the fort sends back reply 

And eight-score missiles every moment fly. 

The iron monsters tremble in the wave, 

Their scales of steel from wounds can scarcely save ; 

Through plates twelve inches thick the dread bolts pierce, 

At last they drive us from the combat fierce. 

One sinks to death ere reaching friendly shore. 

The enemy victorious, o'er and o'er 

Send shouts of laughter mingled with their cheers 

That mid disgrace of flight assail our ears — 



io8 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Yet still Savannah's harbor we maintain 
When they in hopes their fortress to regain 
Within their docks industrious labor long, 
Refitting some old hulk to service strong. 
Then by her sides two boats with colors gay 
With southern ladies crowded, sail the bay, 
And all feel sure that opening their port 
Will prove but little more than idle sport. 
But ours through fugitives have heard their plans, 
And Rodgers quickly our " Weehawken " mans. 
His shots soon pierce their iron plate and beam, 
Down goes the rebel flag, and white the gleam 
Of truce above the shattered frigate floats, 
And quickly now her two attendant boats 
With all their ladies clad in gay attire 
Crestfallen slink away, escaping fire. 



BATTLE OF WILDERNESS. 
HEN Lincoln and his council plainly see 



V V That Grant alone can set our country free, 
They send a messenger to call the man 
So plain and unassuming, by whose plan 
The heights of Vicksburg yielded to our might. 
He takes the honor, girds him for the fight. 
Then to Potomac's army speeds his course, 
With care apportions all his numerous force, 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



To trusty generals, stationed far and near. 

In North Virginia where the foes appear 

With Lee, their chief, alert for battle shock — 

There spreads a Wilderness of wood and rock 

High o'er the fertile vales and winding streams. 

A hopeless labyrinth this woodland seems 

To one who ne'er has trod its devious ways. 

Between the opposing armies stands this maze. 

Oar Warren's forces bravely through it speed, 

While toward Lee's left advance the troops of Meade, 

But Grant with his has hardly passed the ground 

When at his front the rebel troops are found. 

Ours forced to fight ere into rank they fall 

Surprised, confused, can scarce contend at all, 

Yet bloody is the struggle that ensues 

And twenty-thousand gallant men we lose 

Ere two day's fighting brings us through the wood. 

In conflict tangled thickets bode no good, 

Here noble leaders foremost in the fray 

Have perished in the ranks of blue and grey. 

Our veteran Wadsworth, born and reared in wealth 

With honors crowned and happiness and health 

To rigors of the soldiers' camp and field 

For love of country all delights would yield ; 

Who, urging on his force against the foe 

Falls from his steed beneath an unseen blow. 

And Sedgwick of Connecticut who seeks 

To shame his timid men midst bullets' shrieks 

Is struck full in the face by minie-ball 

In silent death his soldiers see him fall. 



I IO 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Yet Grant, for all this woful loss of life 

Despairing not sends from the field of strife 

That message oft repeated far and near, 

So like the man who knew not rest nor fear : 

" Upon this line of fighting I propose 

To keep right on, yes, until summer's close." 

Alas, Alas ! what costs this bravery ? 

The wanderer o'er those battle fields must see 

The prostrate thousands torn by sudden death, 

Or worse, when haply oft the dying breath 

Of wounded one is ruthlessly crushed out 

By rush of arms or steed that wheels about. 

From that dread Wilderness escaped at last 

Our leaders anxiously about them cast 

To find approach to Richmond thro' the lines 

Of Lee, who vigilant detects the signs 

Of closing in and bravely all the way 

Disputes our course and keeps us well at bay. 



SIEGE OF PETERSBURG. 

BEN BUTLER with his force at Fort Monroe 
Comes on to aid our arms and strike a blow; 
If haply Petersburg may fall his prey 
Then Richmond lies but twenty miles away. 
But Beauregard from Charleston hastes to meet 
Our swift advance and all our plans defeat. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. Ill 

A favoring fog then closes ours from view, 

When we entrap the foe by trickery new. 

The wire once stretched for telegraph lies near, 

Around our lines this snare in haste we rear, 

On rush the enemy and blindly fall 

When ours attack ere they their wits recall 

Yet brought to bay, so large their numbers prove 

That coming hosts from our attack remove 

And hastily strong batteries they rear 

While Butler's force encamped lie watching near. 

But Grant, with Meade and Hancock, tho' oppressed 

Still struggles on, though when their armies rest 

At each day's close, the slain unburied lie 

In hosts, the prey of birds that hover nigh. 

To right and left Lee's force we oft essay, 

At length when useless days have dragged away 

Grant leads his forces in a wide detour, 

The road to Richmond, seeking to secure 

By south approach, thro' wearying swamp and stream 

Attacking Petersburg where outposts seem 

The weakest : first before the threatened town 

Come Burnside's troops in hopes to win renown. 

They trench a fort and dig a hidden mine 

Beneath the fortress on the rebels' line. 

They fire the train and echo all the hills 

The hideous roar the town with terror fills. 

The earth is rent, an opening cavernous 

Among their smoking walls appears to us ; 

But ours delay, cast lots for first advance ; 

The enemy recover, and our chance 



I 12 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Is lost for when at length we onward rush 

They pour upon us shot and shell, to crush 

And scatter our attack, a trap of death 

This gap becomes, where thousands yield their breath — 

Thus here and there, from week to week appear 

Our army vast, approaching sometimes near 

The rebel strongholds, and again forced back 

Or driving all the foes that cross its track. 

And well may Grant now ponder o'er the cost 

Of this campaign, with seventy-thousand lost. 

****** 

Oh fair Virginia, by sweet nature blest 
With boundary of mountain o'er whose crest 
The sylvan ridges with their hazy blue 
Give birth to all the streamlets that pursue 
Their babbling way along the fertile vales ; 
Thy peaceful husbandman with terror pales 
Before the horrors of the fiend of war, 
He asks of God : " What are such miseries for ? 
" Why pour such woes on my defenseless head ? 
"The selfsame day across my fields may tread 
"Two hostile armies : I their hosts must feed 
"And not content with this, their cruel greed 
" Of conquest bids them ruthlessly destroy 
"What e'er their foes might after them enjoy." 
And as the poor dependent of the soil 
Mourns o'er the wasted products of his toil 
His humble cottage burned or useless stands 
Surrounded by his devastated lands. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



His wife and children o'er the ruins weep 

And fain would rest in death's oblivious sleep. 

Now Early's grey-coats sweep across the hills, 

Encamped near Washington what terror fills 

Our capitol and all that city fair, 

While rebel raids wild consternation bear 

Through Maryland's green borders and the north 

Where Pennsylvania's sons have all gone forth 

To crush the serpent, writhing with new life, 

And e'en when seeming dead renewing strife, 

But Washington, so long begirt about 

With battery and fortress and redoubt, 

Defies approach, as well as Richmond town 

Which o'er our armies scornfully looks down. 

Grant gives command along the Shenandoah 

To Sheridan ; oh would that long before 

This gallant spirit with his cheery voice 

Had made those oft-retreating troops rejoice ! 

When Early's bands appear he turns and fights 

Success his path to conquest ever lights. 

Phil Sheridan, born under lucky star, 

Of warriors thus blest how few there are ! 

And careless too, while he the leader speeds 

To Washington, his foes through woods and meads 

Approach with stealthy step his slumbering camp, 

Our half-roused men now hear the startling tramp 

Of thousands, then their piercing battle cry. 

Ere arms are seized defenceless hundreds die. 

Our camp is plundered by the enemy 

And we confused, in helpless terror flee, 



U4 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



To Sheridan returning on that morn 
Vague rumors of the woful flight are borne. 
Along the road he speeds, on rescue bound 
And faster than the steed that spurns the ground 
The rider's thoughts, while hastening to the flight. 
At last, at last he breaks upon the sight 
Of army scattered and disconsolate: 
His wondrous courage quick reverses fate. 
Where'er among his downcast lines he moves, 
To every soldier's heart a power he proves. 
" Turn, turn, my boys, and face the other way ! 
We'll lick the enemy ! " they hear him say : 
They turn, they sweep victorious o'er the foe 
The scattered, shattered rebels fleeing go — 
They know not where, and Early's dreaded band 
To face our army ne'er again shall stand. 



BOOK XL 



SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA. 

WHEN Sherman gathers at our Grant's request 
The Union troops of all the south and west 
At Chattanooga, down in Tennessee, 
Those hundred-thousand soldiers well may be 
The conquerors of scarcely half their force 
Whom Johnston leads to check their southern course 
Through rugged mountain pass and steep ravine, 
Where Georgia's woods primeval, ever green 
Conceal the foe alert to strike and fly, 
While here and there the opposing armies ply 
Attacks upon our flank where no defense 
Seems needed, when the woods rise dark and dense. 
Though hostile is the region still we gain, 
And Johnston's sallies on our troops are vain. 
So Davis bids his general yield command 
To Hood of Texas : still no power can stand 
Against our force resistless as the tide ; 
And even now around Atlanta ride 
Our cavalry, to spy the best approach 
Where battery and wall our guns may broach. 
At early morn while in our camp we hear 
Sounds ominous that waken all with fear. 



ti6 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Unknown to us Atlanta seeks her doom, 

The distant city's towers are veiled in gloom 

Of bursting magazines and burning stores 

By southern troops forsaken, she implores 

Our mercy, humbly owns her sad defeat 

And sees our armies marching thro' her street. 

Atlanta, stronghold of the rebels' power, 

For ours becomes a fortress from this hour. 

The exiled citizens at our behest 

Must seek new homes, where seems to each the best. 

Then Sherman's heartlessness the south assails, 

The wanderer his cruel lot bewails. 

And few seem mindful of that loathsome den 

Not far away, where hosts of union men 

The terrors of a southern prison feel : 

Where filth and dire neglect make reason reel ; 

Where guards shoot down the wretch who strives to take 

Beyond the line, a bit of mouldy cake 

To soothe the starving pains that drive him mad ; 

Where helpless ones with festering wounds are glad 

To creep and drink at some foul poisoned pool 

Despairing e'er the fevered brain to cool. 

Or where the rigors of the frost's attack 

On hands and feet that all protection lack 

Have rotted flesh and cleft it from the bone — 

Humanity like this to ours is shown : 

But Sherman finds Atlanta stripped of all 

Support for those who stay to mourn its fall. 

The rails that bore them food are torn away 

'Twas death to bid the helpless longer stay. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED, 



A ten days' truce between the foes declared 

The citizens departing, all are spared 

The haste and fear that well they might expect 

Whose homes by storms of ruthless war are wrecked. 

Once more the waiting troops their arms essay, 

The rebel forces northward flee away 

To lure by strategy from Georgia's land 

The unionists who now are bound to stand 

Within the heart of the " United South," 

Dispelling even at the cannon's mouth 

The rule of traitors over freedom's home. 

So here and there in hot pursuit we roam ; 

The wary enemy eludes attack 

So ours from useless foray hasten back, 

Then rest the troops of Sherman ere they make 

That famous march whose footsteps shall awake 

To music's throbs the pulsing hearts of slaves 

In countless cabins where the pinetree waves 

Above their heads and sings of liberty 

With promise that the weakest shall be free. 

While sounds the sweet south wind's low plaintive tone 

The patient, sable face attentive grown 

Reveals new lights and shades, as borne along 

The tramp of hoof and beat of footfalls strong 

Proclaim the march of Sherman to the sea ; 

Then silence breaks with songs of jubilee. 

How swiftly o'er the land those soldiers sweep ! 

How well that general can his secret keep, 

That none may guess the route : the foe perplexed 

Know not where union arms will strike them next. 



lift 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Savannah reached her feeble struggle ends. 
It is a sacred holiday that lends 
Its benediction to our victory, 
Our victory for Christ and liberty: 
To Lincoln in the White House far away 
From Sherman comes the message on this day: 
" Accept the greetings of the boys in blue, 
Savannah is our Christmas gift to you ! " 



SHERMAN'S ATLANTIC CAMPAIGN. 
HE dreaded wintry storms come on again 



1 And deluge Carolina's swamps with rain; 
The smooth Savannah, now a torrent wide 
Will bear no passage o'er her turbid tide 
And Sherman's bridge of boats is swept away 
Like whirling chips that children launch in play. 
The southrons careless rest, for all are sure 
That ours no further marches can endure. 
Yet scarce a tedious fortnight slips away 
When Sherman charges Foster's troops to stay 
And hold Savannah's walls, while on he leads 
His faithful army northward; scarce he heeds 
The enemy now waked to side attack. 
No terrors by the wayside hold ours back. 
Through swamps they wade, o'er miry roads they pass 
Where trees, by foemen felled in tangled mass 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



II 9 



Obstruct their path, and where for weary miles 

Our soldiers, axe in hand, must break their files 

And lay the logs with care o'er marshy ways 

Where vans must bear their loads and trucks must raise 

The cannon ever needful for assault, 

Yet none from toil and suffering revolt. 

Our progress led by zeal can ne'er abate; 

Another prize is ours in this proud state; 

Columbia, Carolina's capital 

With all its treasured wealth must helpless fall — 

But no: great bales of cotton, all the hoard 

In depot and in warehouse safely stored 

By baffled enemies in haste brought out 

In street and busy square, are piled about, 

The torch applied the conflagration roars, 

The wealth of ruined thousands upward soars 

On wings of flame and clouds of dunnest smoke. 

The ruined tradesmen Heaven's wrath invoke. 

The raging winds bear brands through all the town 

Her fairest structures flame-pierced topple down. 

Ours hasting stop the fire where'er they may, 

Yet many at the south will doubtless say, 

That reckless soldiers on the union side 

To aid destruction oft the torch applied. 

South Carolina hopeless loses all 

Proud Charleston, vainly brave, at last must fall, 

Her four years' struggle without struggle ends, 

She too by fiery death her name defends. 

Our troops through blackened ruins make their way, 

Past shattered walls, where gaps let in the day, 



120 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Mute witnesses of storms of shot and shell 

That long ago from union gunboats fell; 

Fair homes where once had dwelt the rich and great, 

The inmost rooms now plundered, desolate, 

While scattered o'er the rich mosaic floors 

Are bits of colored windows, fallen doors, 

Rare statues shattered, glittering chandeliers, 

And every where the pillager appears; 

In cellars and in walls of this wide waste 

He searches for the treasures hid in haste. 

Those old historic churches on the street 

Could not escape the bursting bombs and heat. 

St. Peter's and St. Michael's, sacred shrines 

Now let the sunlight fall in glimmering lines 

Through broken roofs o'er pews with plaster piled 

O'er prostrate pillars, altars torn, defiled. 

Fort Sumter in the harbor, long essayed 

In vain by union guns, at last has made 

Her peace with ours by rebel sacrifice, 

And once again above the ruin flies 

Our flag, that Anderson so long ago 

Held bravely there till Charleston laid it low. 

So Sherman wins his way through all the south, 

And in the north bursts forth from every mouth 

A shout of gratitude and fervent prayer; 

For help has come when we no more can bear. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



121 



FALL OF FORT FISHER. 

WHILE all these deeds are done Fort Fisher falls, 
North Carolina's strong defence, her walls 
By land and sea our troops had long assailed, 
And Porter's monstrous powder blast had failed 
To undermine her firm foundation stones. 
But Ferry's troop by land for that atones 
While Porter from the sea by storming aids 
Ours on the shore whose oft repeated raids 
Drive forth the garrison from trembling walls. 
To ours at last the longed-for booty falls. 
So falls the rebel rule along the shore, 
The south control Atlantic's coast no more. 



THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE BAY. 

MEANWHILE Mobile has lost her harbor strong, 
For brave old Admiral Farragut had long 
Been cruising with his fleet o'er southern seas, 
The nation lives by deeds of men like these 
Who man his eighteen battle-ships that sail 
To Mobile's sheltered harbor, ne'er to fail 
When pours from Gaines' and Morgan's fortress walls 
An iron shower on every ship that falls 



122 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Within the range of gaping guns that keep 
The North at bay; beneath those waters sleep 
Torpedoes dread by rebel hands concealed, 
By our Tecumseh these are first revealed; 
When rashly brave, she ventures up the bay 
A deadly shell explodes, across her way. 
Her hull asunder torn lets in the wave; 
So fast she sinks that scare a score we save 
Of all that gallant crew who knew not fear. 
But Farragut, undaunted drawing near 
On Hartford' s maintop, to a constant fire 
Stands full exposed, and in the conflict dire 
He flinches not but grandly leads the way 
For all his vessels passing up the bay. 
Within they meet the guardian of the port, 
The Tennessee to whom attacks seem sport, 
Her sides are thicker than a city's walls 
And from her iron armor ponderous balls 
Fall like a harmless shower of summer hail. 
Three lesser boats around the monster sail. 
The giant ocean Typhon and her young 
To all their foes have grim defiance flung; 
Our boats about her flanks undaunted fly, 
And for some point of entrance vainly try. 
Monongahela strikes her, pours in shot; 
Unharmed, indifferent she trembles not; 
She floats in lurid lights and war-clouds black 
When Lackawanna joins the fierce attack; 
But soon with stern crushed in she slinks away; 
Our sturdy Hartford too, is brought to bay. 



Columbia redeemed. 



Our low-decked monitors their metal try 

Against the armor of the monster high; 

At last when sore beset on every side 

Her smoke-stack gone, while still in all their pride 

Five union boats increasing zeal display 

She lifts the flag of truce while yet she may — 

Of those, her lesser champions in the fight, 

One burns, and one escapes in timely flight, 

And one we capture near the sandy shore; 

The rebel rule within the port is o'er. 

The well- walled forts at entrance of the bay 

We win by fierce attack at dawn of day. 

No blockade-runners from the English coast 

Shall enter here to aid the southern host. 

For we have closed the harbor of Mobile — 

Her pains of death the South can ill conceal. 



THE ELECTION OF 'SIXTY-FOUR. 
HE autumn days of 'sixty-four are spent 



1 In doubt and wrangle, grief and discontent; 
This year the great republic speaks anew, 
And bids its faithful sons be just and true 
To principle, when each by vote shall place 
In presidential chair the man whom grace 
Of God alone can bear through this dark hour; 
Against the unionists a mighty power 




t24 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



Like demon rises, pointing o'er the earth 

With blood of thousands flowing, sad with dearth 

Which years of plundering, hungry war must bring: 

The states with monstrous debt long laboring: 

Four billion dollars, ne'er a hoard so vast 

Within the hungry maw of war was cast 

Since history in this great world began. 

And some strive hard for peace on timid plan, 

For southern pride, they say, must win the day: 

Be independence theirs to go their way, 

And let them build upon foundation stone 

Of slavery, a nation of their own. 

These name McClellan to control the state, 

That general in action always late. 

The other party, spite of scorn and strife, 

By Lincoln's hand would still preserve the life 

Of all the states, united as of old; 

Those shores where great Atlantic's tides have rolled 

From Maine to Florida, and far to west 

Where broad Pacific lifts its swelling crest. 

Some seek what peace from Davis they may gain 

With promise that the south shall still retain 

Her sisterhood among the northern states, 

Forgotten all the treason and the hates 

That part the nation tottering to its fall. 

But Davis unrelenting at the call 

To cease from bitter war replies to these: 

" I, too, desire blest peace and rest and ease; 

I tried my best this war to turn aside, 

The north is mad with arrogance and pride; 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



We fight not now for slavery alone; 

We fight till you our independence own; 

We fight till falls the last man on the field, 

His children then the gun shall seize and wield: 

Extermination only shall decide; 

You crush our limbs but can not kill our pride." 

Cast down, the embassy of peace depart 

And seethes again through all the northern heart 

A tumult of distraction, death to peace, 

And some declare the south deserves release — 

From pulpit and from platform endless blame 

Throughout the land is cast on Lincoln's name. 

What right has he to burn their fields of wheat, 

To steal their slaves and silver; 'neath his feet 

To trample all the rights our laws accord, 

And still to call, with power of a lord, 

For thousands more of freedom-loving men 

To fill in southern lands a prison pen? 

But better sense prevails, and friends arise 

To shield the patient leader from these cries. 

The people's votes on that November day 

Decree that he, the trusted, still shall sway 

Our troubled nation trembling on the brink 

Of shameful death where all may hopeless sink. 

The very soldiers fighting in the field 

Cast votes to die if need be, ere they y eld. 

But courage comes to our supporters leal; 

What joys of hope the northern patriots feel 

When o'er the lines come messages that say: 

"Atlanta's fallen! " " Sherman's won the day! " 



126 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



" Our ships hold fast the harbor of Mobile! " 

Now sing to God with all the joy ye feel! 

On that same day dies one with honors crowned,* 

Our justice chief who, spite of lore profound, 

Had ever held that slavery was just. 

With him that faith now crumbles to the dust. 

The words of Lincoln, as again he stands 

The helm of state once more within his hands 

Upon our history's page all time shall see: 

" Both parties pray to God for victory, 

And if 'tis right that men should w T ring their bread 

From toiling slaves, then let their cause be sped, 

Or if God wills that all this bondsmen's toil 

Of twelve score years shall sink into the soil; 

And every drop of blood drawn with the lash 

Be paid by one where brother's swords shall clash — 

Then be it so: God's judgments all are just, 

Come weal or woe, in Heaven shall be our trust, 

With malice now toward none, with charity 

Toward all, as God gives us the light to see, 

Let us still strive, as best we may to end 

The work before us and our powers to spend 

In healing all the nation's wounds; in care 

For those still forced the battle's shock to bear: 

Let us their widows and their orphans feed, 

And minister in gladness to their need, 

That we a just and lasting peace may find 

Among ourselves and then with all mankind! " 



*Roger B. Taney. 



BOOK XII. 



PRING dawns again; the new year 'sixty- five 



vj Beholds the war-worn southland scarce alive, 
Yet struggling in the grasp of parting pain, 
For one brief hour she seems to live again. 
The state of Alabama, little tried 
Her port blockaded still resists with pride. 
Our Wilson, gathering troops by Tennessee 
Leads thirteen-hundred Union cavalry 
On rapid raid through Alabama's hills, 
Through valleys where the early springtime fills 
The streamlets now to seething torrents grown 
When roads are washed away and fields o'erflown; 
Past Russelville, past Jasper, Elyton 
Still unattacked by foe they gallop on; 
Two-hundred miles are passed ere they abate 
Their speed, when, near the center of the state 
They fall on Selma, rich in arms and store. 
Here Forest vainly guards with motley corps 
Of trembling, untaught men, for war too old, 
And boys scarce strong enough their guns to hold; 
Sad remnants of the desperate, dying South 
Where age with youth must face the cannon's mouth. 
Our horsemen sweep them down, forlorn of hope, 
No longer can the feeble city cope 




COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



With our victorious warriors, thousands fly 

As friendly darkness of the night draws nigh. 

To ours vast stores with guns and prisoners fall; 

The town is sacked, the flames consume it all. 

Here liberated negroes join our train 

That flushed with victory onward moves again. 

Montgomery, the capital, appears; 

Without a struggle, yielding to her fears 

She burns her stores and lets our raiders in, 

Then on again we speed, resolved to w ? in 

The last defenses of the fated state. 

Yet Mobile's fall for other arms shall wait. 

For Porter's fleet sails slowly up the bay 

To aid the force by land, still far away. 

Our General Canby's thirty-thousand men 

From New Orleans were swiftly marching then. 

Brave old Mobile, beseiged by land and sea 

Though short her struggles battles manfully. 

Tremendous storms from battery and boat 

Around her rage, while sulphurous o'er her float 

Thick clouds of doom, still on from ridge to ridge 

Sharp-shooters press and strive each trench to brid 

At midnight silence seals each rebel gun — 

We scale the walls; the Spanish fort is won. 

Two smaller posts from union arms secure 

Still struggle on though our success is sure. 

Oh bitter strife, when Mississippi steel 

In grasp of southern pride at last must feel 

The loathed, detested blacks strike forth its fire; 

The dying southron grinds his teeth with ire 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



And perishes while muttering an oath 

Then trample o'er him mercilessly both 

The whites and blacks — the blacks avenged now, 

While captives to their slaves submissive bow. 

Mobile lies open, fallen her support 

And o'er the city's towers and o'er each fort 

Fair floats the union flag while from the bay 

The winds of spring within its bosom play. 



THE FALL OF RICHMOND. 

AROUND the foe our ranks are closing in, 
Virginia alone we yet must win, 
Virginia! what sufferings hast thou borne 
Proud to the last, howe'er so weak and worn! 
Grant's armies camped around the rebel fold 
Her last two cities fast beseig^d hold. 
Stanch Petersburg and Richmond guarded well: 
Then Grant, our force at Petersburg to swell 
Calls Sheridan to leave the Shenandoah; 
Our arms to southward moving, more and more, 
Shut Lee's tried army close within the state. 
Phil Sheridan meets Early doomed by fate 
To lose his sixteen-hundred cavaliers; 
The leader flees alone, unmanned by fears. 
To east and west of Petersburg we see 
The flower of all the rebel troops of Lee. 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



So gathering to the south we force their lines, 

Then Lee to troops of his the task assigns 

By sudden rush to cut our force in twain, 

But ours thus broken, close, unite again, 

And fast within our lines the foes we hold. 

Alas! how profitless their onset bold! 

Our prisoners they, their fort we next assail: 

On Steedman's walls the southern guardsmen fail, 

Then on to Five Forks where the foe upraise 

Their western rampart: Sheridan essays 

To drive the southrons back; his men repelled 

Charge once again; by us the post is held. 

A thousand prisoners here again are ours; 

Confused in flight their troops with failing powers 

Are forced to westward far away from Lee 

Who in dismay his trusted flank to see 

Dispersed, must call perforce from Richmond's walls 

Their sole defence: The tottering city falls. 

******* 

'Tis Sunday morning and within his pew 
At Richmond's church, surrounded by the few 
Who dare to worship, Davis sits. Appears 
A messenger, whose very face he fears. 
He brings in haste the words of General Lee: 
" My lines are broken now in places three, 
This evening Richmond to the foe must fall! " 
A nameless dread descends upon them all, 
As from the church the Chief in silence goes, 
And every worshipper by instinct knows 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



That Death has come, and from the temple pour 

A terror-stricken herd, while o'er and o'er 

Is passed from mouth to mouth the dreadful tale 

That Lee's defence about their homes must fail. 

They scarce believe on this fair April day 

When sounds in hazy air melt soft away, 

The streets unvexed by lawless trooper throng, 

That such a peaceful Sunday scene ere long 

In fiery fingers of destruction's hand 

Must sink to ashes where war's foot shall stand. 

From house and shop they bring their treasures out 

And here and there confused they search about 

For carts and wains to bear their wealth away, 

Their eager trembling haste brooks no delay. 

As when a swarm of ants, the sod removed, 

That long a roof above them safe has proved 

Is bared to every danger from its foes, 

Each hurrying insect from the ruin goes 

And drags great burdens to some safe retreat, 

Then back returns for more, with footsteps fleet, 

And whither flee they, what their guiding power 

The puzzled watcher in some idle hour 

Can scarce determine, as he curious bends: 

So Richmond's fleeing people seek their ends. 

Great casks of liquors emptied flood the street 

Lest lawless vagabonds inflamed to heat, 

By long potations, drunken havoc make: 

Yet vain, for struggling soldiers reckless take 

What still remains forgotten, hid away, 

And with wild cries destructive hands they lay 



132 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



On doors and windows, breaking barriers down, 

And law no longer can the tumult drown. 

With breath of death fierce fires at last break out 

And through that lurid night the rabble rout 

Escaping hasten down the Danville road 

And struggling helplessly beneath their load 

Seek Lee's protection. He with wearied men 

To force an outlet tries the south again; 

But Sheridan his hopeless progress stays, 

Then Grant who spares the foe let nations praise; 

'Tis he who sends to Lee with just request 

To yield his army now as must seem best 

And save the South from useless loss of life. 

The leaders meet to end this long sad strife; 

At Appomattox, standing face to face, 

The one of proud old stock and southern grace 

Must yield obedience to a soldier plain, 

His bearded face grown brown with sun and rain, 

His garments stained and worn by camp and field. 

Upon this spot the nation's fate is sealed. 

No more shall brothers here raise hostile hand, 

Those brothers nurtured by the same dear land. 

How at this moment love returns again! 

Our soldiers share with Lee's half-famished men 

Their rations, not enough for them before, 

Love's miracle has added to their store. 

And after all the transient agony 

Of sad defeat, like cloud has floated by 

What sweet relief those toil-worn soldiers feel 

While listening to their leader's last appeal! 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



The mingled tears of love and sadness swell 
As Lee to all his army bids farewell: 
" My men, together we have battled long; 
In parting now, oh may the faith be strong 
Within your hearts that I have ever done 
My best for you, where'er we've lost or won! " 



O know when we are conquered shows true sense; 



1 Tis idle with a broken sword to fence: 
When Davis with his rebel staff takes flight 
And leaves his Richmond in such rueful plight, 
At little Danville this bombastic writ 
He issues: " We have yielded not a whit 
But free to move from place to place we'll smite 
All northern foes, where'er they come to light." 
He waits the aid of long-expected Lee 
Unconscious that the land from strife is free — 
Then comes the unwelcome news. The outcasts turn 
To southward wandering, where they hardly earn 
By all their former power, a friendly roof, 
And slowly comes o'er all a bitter proof 
That fallen fortunes scarce command respect, 
That their false ship of state at last is wrecked 
And one by one they leave her helpless form 
To battle with the breakers and the storm. 



FLIGHT OF DAVIS. 




J 34 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



At last in Georgia's woods at fall of night 
The family of Davis hide from sight. 
Surprised by Pritchard with his Union bands, 
The rebel chief, arrayed by trembling hands 
In woman's garments, cautious creeps away, 
When ours espy his tell-tale boots and stay 
The hapless creature slipping from our hold. 
The north receives him with the welcome cold 
Of Fort Monroe where prison walls are strong. 
Here musing o'er his deeds in penance long 
The captive worthless once again is free 
To live a future of obscurity. 



THE DEATH OF LINCOLN. 

AT this glad hour when all at last is well, 
The nation starts at sound of funeral bell, — 
Our Lincoln who had borne the cares of state, 
Must fall a helpless prey to southern hate. 
The man who was the very soul of love, 
Who prayerfully had sought for help above, 
In all our struggles of the four long years 
Must die a martyr, just as light appears. 
By wish of friends who long to soothe his care, 
One gala night where bright the scene and fair 
Within the theatre's gay box he sits 
When stealthily behind a shadow flits; 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



The assassin bars the exit at the door, 

The brilliant Booth, accursed forevermore. 

'Twas Baltimore brought forth this blazing brand 

Who seeks to avenge the south with murder's hand. 

With pistol and with dagger clasped he stands, 

Rage in his eyes and death within his hands! 

One startling shot rings through the o'erladen air; 

Low sinks the victim's form, no struggle there. 

Thy toils are o'er! not for thyself were borne 

The threats of foes, the bitterness and scorn! 

The murderer waves his dagger ere he flies, 

" Thus let it be with tyrants all! " he cries. 

Then leaping down to rush across the stage, 

The spur upon his boot arrests his rage, 

For caught among the folds of draping flag 

The stars and stripes that traitor trip and drag, 

That flag betrayed now seems instinct with life 

Thus mutely with her deadliest foe at strife. 

But springing madly to his feet again 

The actor in Orestes' tragic vein 

Still waves his dagger with the startling cry: 

"The South's avenged! " All helpless see him fly. 

He mounts his horse, the darkness like a pall 

Soon snatches him away from sight of all. 

But fate pursues; the fugitive must die 

Nor knows the world where Booth's bones rotting lie. 



1 3 6 



COLUMBIA REDEEMED. 



PEACE. 

NOW hark! through all the northland bells of Peace 
Thrill through the soul and bring a blest release 
From pain and death and darkness struggled through, 
From burdens greater than ere nation knew. 
And o'er the widespread southland far away 
Breaks bright the sun of liberty to-day; 
And sweet and joyous rings the jubilee 
Of trembling millions who at last are free. 
And nations o'er the sea, so long estranged 
May smile again, for hate to love is changed. 

FINIS. 



-J 



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